Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Theory, Prediction, Fallacy, Negation and Proof

Direct prediction is in fact no proof of a theory:

After all, "A implies B; B: therefore A" is the logical fallacy of affirming the consequent (since some other subject, say "A' ", may imply "B", too).

This would seem to imply that there can be no predictive proofs of scientific theories, only disproofs, although as a practical matter one can calmly accept that the more, and the more different, and the more unexpected, predictions that a theory affords, the more likely it is that it is true (this resembles Hume's later position, say in "Of Miracles", after his original and highly unrealistic idee fixe that "causation is custom").

But if you can formulate the negation of the theory "A", "~A" (easy enough with a simple theory consisting of a single elementary or atomic proposition, and using the tilde "~" to mean logical or Boolean "NOT"), then if you can show "~A" implies a false proposition, it is false, and therefore (since the negation of a falsehood is true) the original theory "A" is true": that is, " ~A implies C; ~C: therefore ~(~A), = A" (a double negation of course canceling each other).

As for more complex theories, if the theory to be proved is "A1 && A2 && A3" (using the double ampersand "&&" to mean logical or Boolean "AND"), then its negation is "~A1 || ~A2 || ~A3" (using the double stroke "||" to mean logical or Boolean "OR"), and the aforementioned proof then hinges on whether that disjunction implies a falsehood, which means that if any one of "~A1", "~A2" or "~A3" implies a falsehood, then the original theory is true.

It seems strange that the original complex theory "A" can be proven on the basis of an assessment of just one of its elements, but, of course, that's not what's happening here: what's being assessed is an element of the NEGATION of that theory.

Note: For those readers unfamiliar with propositional logic due to an incompetent education, "A && B" is equivalent to "~(~A || ~B)", so negating "A && B" gives "~A || ~B".


Keywords: cephalgia, logic, philosophy, prediction, theory

Friday, January 06, 2012

All You Need to Know About American Politics

Conservatism = plutocracy + theocracy + hypocrisy
Liberalism = plutocracy + psychosociocracy + hypocrisy

Wall Street Democrats = Wall Street Republicans

Reagan = Bush = Clinton = Bush II = Obama


Keywords: plutocracy, two-plutocratic-party system

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Walking Through the Cold

An Occupy Wall Street "Winter War" Picket-Song

(Sung to a slow walking cadence, accent on "walk-" and "cold" in the chorus-line, "cold" held for a beat and a half)


We carry our signs in the snow and wind.
We carry our signs in the snow and wind.
We carry our signs in the snow and wind.
We're walking in the cold.
We're walking in the cold.

Our hearts are on fire, our hands and feet are numb.
Our hearts are on fire, our hands and feet are numb.
Our hearts are on fire, our hands and feet are numb.
We're walking in the cold.
We're walking in the cold.
We're walking in the cold.

Dupes shout "Get a job", and dupes shout "Go home."
Dupes shout "Get a job", and dupes shout "Go home."
Dupes shout "Get a job", and dupes shout "Go home."
We're walking through the cold.
We're walking through the cold.
We're walking through the cold.

We'll claw back the money and the jobs you stole.
We'll claw back the money and the jobs you stole.
We'll claw back the money and the jobs you stole.
We're walking through the cold.
We're walking through the cold.
We're walking through the cold.

We'll walk to Spring and end your plutocracy.
We'll walk to Spring and end your plutocracy.
We'll walk to Spring and end your plutocracy.
We're walking through the cold
We're walking through the cold.
We're walking through the cold.

We're walking through the cold.


[Composed while walking back and forth for three hours on the Occupy Ashland (KY) picket-line alone the evening of January 2, 2012, with the temperature in the high 20s F and falling, a brisk W/NW wind, and spatters of snow.]

[What that afternoon looked like:

http://twitpic.com/85da2i

although at one point visibility dropped to a couple of hundred feet.]

[Simulposted to Usenet, Message-ID:6a7f41d6-d2ce-4cbb-b6a1-649f0da37c2c@p16g2000yqd.googlegroups.com ]


Keywords: antiplutocracy, Occupy Ashland (KY), Occupy Wall Street, OWS, plutocracy, US Day of Rage, USDOR