Faith in science

Originally posted by @js357
Certainty is a state of mind. It is possible to have 100% certainty of something, and be wrong.

Yet it is possible to have 100% certainty of something, and be right.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
Ok let's test this. Are you 100% certain of your gender?

I am a lesbian trapped in the body of a man.

At least, I haven’t proved otherwise.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
Can you not tell me with 100% certainty what your gender is?

You can say most likely what your gender is but did you not read my post and understand the implications? And why do you insist we should know anything 100% anyway? Science never says we know something 100% Science says we know something within some window of limits, say the temperature of boiling mercury, say it's 4500 degrees F.

They never would say 4500.00000000 degrees. They would say 4500 degrees plus or minus say 1/10th of a percent. That is NOT 100% surety.

So why do you continue along this line since several posts have already explained that property of the scientific method.

You asked is it 100% certainty you drop a pen and it hits the ground. Do you deny the possibility a cat seeing it drop, leaps in the air and grabs it in its jaws, stopping it from hitting the ground?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
Yet it is possible to have 100% certainty of something, and be right.

Being 100% certain and being 100% right. Are they different things?

Originally posted by @sonhouse
You can say most likely what your gender is but did you not read my post and understand the implications? And why do you insist we should know anything 100% anyway? Science never says we know something 100% Science says we know something within some window of limits, say the temperature of boiling mercury, say it's 4500 degrees F.

They never would say 4 ...[text shortened]... seeing it drop, leaps in the air and grabs it in its jaws, stopping it from hitting the ground?

Would you say ‘knowledge’ and ‘truth’ is something we are not 100% certain about?

At what percentage of certainty can we classify information as knowledge or truth?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
Would you say ‘knowledge’ and ‘truth’ is something we are not 100% certain about?

At what percentage of certainty can we classify information as knowledge or truth?

To say I am 178cm tall is "true" but not accurate.

It is absolutely true to say I am 178 +/- 1 cm tall.

It is absolutely true to say the pen falling from the table
will hit the floor ... at least 99.999999999% of the time.

It is absolutely true to say I have a 25% chance of
drawing a spade from a deck of cards.

The percentage of certainty doesn't matter to the
truth of a statement so long as it is part of that statement.

Originally posted by @wolfgang59
To say I am 178cm tall is "true" but not accurate.

It is absolutely true to say I am 178 +/- 1 cm tall.

It is absolutely true to say the pen falling from the table
will hit the floor ... at least 99.999999999% of the time.

It is absolutely true to say I have a 25% chance of
drawing a spade from a deck of cards.

The percentage of certainty doesn't matter to the
truth of a statement so long as it is part of that statement.

When you have conducted an experiment in a controlled environment whereby you have dropped a pen 100 times and recorded that it fell to the ground 100 times, it would be absolutely true to say that the pen fell to the ground 100% of the times it was dropped in that particular environment.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
When you have conducted an experiment in a controlled environment whereby you have dropped a pen 100 times and recorded that it fell to the ground 100 times, it would be absolutely true to say that the pen fell to the ground 100% of the times it was dropped in that particular environment.

Yes.
That is history.

Originally posted by @wolfgang59
Yes.
That is history.

So what reason would there be for the 101st time not to be 100% certain? (Remember this is a controlled environment)

Originally posted by @dj2becker
So what reason would there be for the 101st time not to be 100% certain? (Remember this is a controlled environment)

Because what would happen on the 102nd turn.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Why are you asking childish questions?
Either
* You are childish
or
* Pretending to be childish
or
* Stupid
or
Pretending to be stupid

????????????????????????

Originally posted by @wolfgang59 to dj2becker
Because what would happen on the 102nd turn.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Why are you asking childish questions?
Either
* You are childish
or
* Pretending to be childish
or
* Stupid
or
Pretending to be stupid

????????????????????????

You are being trolled.

Originally posted by @wolfgang59
Because what would happen on the 102nd turn.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Why are you asking childish questions?
Either
* You are childish
or
* Pretending to be childish
or
* Stupid
or
Pretending to be stupid

????????????????????????

What could possibly happen at the 102nd turn in a controlled environment that didn’t happen the first 100 times?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
What could possibly happen at the 102nd turn in a controlled environment that didn’t happen the first 100 times?

Earthquake. Flood. Power loss. Assistant goes on strike. Researcher has an appendicidis attack. The FBI comes in and says what you are doing is treason and arrests the researcher.
Bill Cosby crashes the party yelling Where are the girls?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
So what reason would there be for the 101st time not to be 100% certain? (Remember this is a controlled environment)

If by “controlled environment” you mean one in which a dropped pen always hits the floor, then in that environment, well duh, go figure????

Originally posted by @js357
Being 100% certain and being 100% right. Are they different things?

Of course. Knowledge and truth are not the same thing.