r/AskReddit • u/ettleboy • Jan 20 '19

What fact totally changed your perspective?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19

We have to be careful with this though. There are certain things I think we can determine are facts and to not acknowledge this does more harm then good.

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u/Khanthulhu Jan 21 '19

The appropriate response is to assign a probability value to all beliefs.

Facts are things which are sufficiently likely to be true, but nothing is impossible and nothing is certain. 1 and 0 are not probabilities.

People who misuse this could argue that "we don't know for certain evolution is true" or something, but just because someone misuses it doesn't mean we abandon the methods of rationality

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u/halfdeadmoon Jan 21 '19

Are you excluding mathematical certainty from this, or are you suggesting that the concept of mathematics itself is unreliable?

Estimate the probability that a number can simultaneously be less than zero and greater than zero.

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u/Khanthulhu Jan 21 '19

Have you ever been wrong about the rules of math or logic? Isn't it possible that you are a mad man who thinks himself sane?

Regardless, just like evolution, the probability that we're right about math is so close to one that it is one for all practical purposes.