• SoftEdgedWonder
    42
    SO, what is accuracy? What makes one measurement more accurate than another?Banno

    The more exact the numbers measured are, the more accurate.
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    what is accuracy? What makes one measurement more accurate than another?Banno

    That's a technicality and will depend on the variables being estimated. The important point here, generically speaking, is that truth and accuracy are BASICALLY THE SAME CONCEPT, except that accuracy involves a more nuanced quantitative aspect in terms of precision. Whereas 'truth' is 1/0 (either you speak the truth or not), one can be more or less accurate.

    Edit: in other words, accuracy is to truth what a fuzzy set is to a classic set: very much the same thing but blurred on the edge.
  • Srap Tasmaner
    4.9k
    "the cat is in a hat" is true iff the cat is in a hat.Banno

    Which cat?
  • T Clark
    13.7k
    Not trying to be a dick but how about this? My daughter has a one year old son. She has embraced an Evangelical form of Christianity and believes vaccination is a conspiracy and prayer will suffice to keep her and her boy safe. I believe in vaccination. Do I care and accept this situation as 'her version of truth/facts'? Do I care if it's the right decision? What would you do?Tom Storm

    We're talking about different things. My post was a cutesy and a bit too obscure statement that truth, knowledge, facts, and beliefs are not something we normally use directly in our day to day lives. Is "This is the right club for me to use," a true statement? A fact? A belief? Knowledge? Mostly it's a judgement.

    As for your situation...

    My daughter has a one year old son. She has embraced an Evangelical form of Christianity and believes vaccination is a conspiracy and prayer will suffice to keep her and her boy safe. I believe in vaccination. Do I care and accept this situation as 'her version of truth/facts'? Do I care if it's the right decision? What would you do?Tom Storm

    Getting a vaccination is a good and responsible thing in most cases, but not getting one is not normally life-threatening or especially dangerous. For better or worse, your daughter gets a lot of leeway in deciding how to raise her child. And that's a good thing. Do you accept her version of the truth? No. Do you accept her right to raise her child? Yes.

    The child comes first. Normally that means the parents get to make the decisions. It's a bad, serious thing to take that away. There's a line - if her decision does put her child in serious, immediate, and avoidable danger, maybe something has to be done to force things.
  • Tom Storm
    9k
    Got ya. If life is about anything at all it seems to be about versions of truth.

    My post was a cutesy and a bit too obscure statement that truth, knowledge, facts, and beliefs are not something we normally use directly in our day to day lives.T Clark

    Yep. Agree. Matter of fact, I tend to do everything by blundering through. For me one of the points of a site like this is to see what else is going and if some rigor is worth the effort.
  • Janus
    16.2k
    A fact is a true statement.
    — Banno

    Or an actual state of affairs. — Janus


    Or an accurate observation.
    Olivier5

    You mean as in it is a fact that you made an accurate observation (or not)?
  • Janus
    16.2k
    Or an actual state of affairs — Janus


    Like the creation of the world by the gods.
    SoftEdgedWonder

    The creation of the world by the gods would be a fact if the gods actually created the world.
  • Laguercina
    15
    The creation of the world by the gods would be a fact if the gods actually created the world.Janus

    Obviously they did.
  • Janus
    16.2k
    That's not obvious to me. What makes it obvious to you I wonder?
  • T Clark
    13.7k
    blundering through.Tom Storm

    rigorTom Storm

    Experience and intuition are not "blundering through." I was an engineer for 30 years. When I took a look at a new project, I could often tell how it would turn out at the very start. I'd seen so many. Later in the process I needed to look at project specific data and apply rigor - calculations, mapping, regulatory and permit evaluation...I wasn't always right in my intuition, but it gave me a framework on how to proceed.
  • Laguercina
    15
    What makes it obvious to you I wonder?Janus

    The very fact that it's there.
  • Janus
    16.2k
    The very fact that it's there.Laguercina

    What is it about its being there that makes it obvious it was created by gods?
  • Laguercina
    15
    What is it about its being there that makes it obvious it was created by gods?Janus

    The universe can't be there (even if eternal and infinite) if not created by gods.
  • Srap Tasmaner
    4.9k


    Is there a revised T-sentence to go along with -- what? Are you pointing at it?
  • Janus
    16.2k
    The universe can't be there (even if eternal and infinite) if not created by gods.Laguercina

    Why not?
  • Athena
    3.2k
    Olivier5
    2.8k
    your definition of fact still relies on truth; just dishonestly.
    — Banno

    Of course, and so does yours. And there no dishonesty about it. You should try and relax a bit.
    Olivier5

    If it can not be validated how can it be an accepted fact?
  • Athena
    3.2k
    The universe can't be there (even if eternal and infinite) if not created by gods.Laguercina

    How do you validate the existence of gods?
  • Laguercina
    15
    Why not?Janus

    Because it can't exist on its own. The string landscape (but with strings replaced by my own structures) is too beautifull for that. How can such beaurty exist without (a) creator(s)? Is it just eternal? I remember asking my mum where the gods are while staring out of the airplane window. In my teens I ridiculed god(s). My mom was wrong with her gods. After my physics study this continued a while. In my end twenties the gods are back.
  • Banno
    24.8k
    Get to your point.
  • Tom Storm
    9k
    In my end twenties the gods are back.Laguercina

    Well, as they say, progress is not inevitable... :wink:
  • Laguercina
    15
    How do you validate the existence of gods?Athena

    I can't validate their existence. I just dreamed of them and knew unconsciously. But know I'm conscious. But I don't give a F..k about them. I'm just happy they created it all. How created them, I asked myself. They are eternal. They even know no time. Then what's the difference with an eternal universe? A big deal!
  • Laguercina
    15
    Well, as they say, progress is not inevitable... :wink:Tom Storm

    :razz:
  • Janus
    16.2k
    Get to your point.Banno

    ?

    I'm trying to prompt Laguercina to get to his or her point or argument. But anyway in view of the seeming unlikelihood of satisfaction, I'm losing interest.

    Goddamn!
  • Laguercina
    15
    Goddamn!Janus

    I wasn't notified. What's your point? Godsdamned!
  • Janus
    16.2k
    What's your point?Laguercina

    The point of no further interest.
  • Banno
    24.8k
    My bad. Clicked the wrong reply button. My apologies.

    @Laguercina has just joined, and at this rate will be leaving us soon.
  • Banno
    24.8k
    The more exact the numbers measured are, the more accurate.SoftEdgedWonder

    SO 3.1 is not as accurate a value of pie as 4.56324, because the latter is five orders of magnitude more exact.
  • Tom Storm
    9k
    Laguercina has just joined, and at this rate will be leaving us soon.Banno

    He's banned.
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