(May 10, 2023 at 11:26 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: @FlatAssembler
In case you’re interested, here are some problems with Kleck’s study:
https://www.vacps.org/public-policy/the-...s-of-kleck
Boru
As far as I can see, that article essentially makes two arguments:
1) The number of people who claim to have contacted with the aliens is even greater than the number of people claiming to have been saved by a gun.
2) The probability that somebody who has a gun will be murdered is greater than the probability that somebody who doesn't have a gun will be murdered.
Both of those arguments are nonsense.
For the first argument, in case somebody thinks he has seen an alien, we have a strong independent reason to think that he is mistaken. Intelligent life is almost certainly thousands of light-years away from us, and special relativity prevents the aliens from traveling faster than light, no matter how technologically advanced they are. What is that strong independent reason to think that somebody who thinks he has been saved by a gun is mistaken? There isn't one.
For the second argument... If you lived in a high-crime neighbourhood where you are at an increased risk of getting murdered, wouldn't you want to get a gun to protect yourself? People who get a gun are those at a higher risk of getting murdered, it's not that having a gun puts you at a higher risk of getting murdered.
