(October 26, 2015 at 12:12 am)excitedpenguin Wrote: You're splitting hairs, OP. If you want to be taken seriously, don't make a show out of the missing the point.
(October 26, 2015 at 12:30 am)bennyboy Wrote: You've answered your OP in your OP.
Ideas that would be extraordinary to our culture are ordinary to others. Remember that the point of argumentation is to influence someone's world view, by making them take as fact something you want them to take as fact. I take QM as a fact; Medieval Englanders, almost for sure, would not. IN THEIR CULTURE, your QM claims would be extraordinary, and would require. . . wait for it. . . extraordinary evidence. Of course, that would mean presenting a series of experiments, and explanations, to get the culture up to speed.
I would like to clarify, that while I did reference Sagan for the quote, I do not know the context for Sagan, and my argument is based on the way I have usually seen it presented.
I do think that if what constitutes as an extraordinary claim is subjective, and the decision of the audience, then it is close to what I was talking about. Also if by extraordinary evidence, one means sufficient evidence and is consistent in application then there is not an issue.
