[UA] Re: [UA]

[Nick Wedig]

>    Every night, do you worry that the sun might not rise tomorrow?  If not,
>you've made the same "leap of faith."  It'd be cool to be able to breathe
>water, wouldn't it?  Try it.  Didn't work?  Maybe next time it will.  Keep
>trying--it's just a numbers game.  Sure, no one else can wrap a blanket
>around their shoulders and fly--but that's no evidence that *you* can't do
>it.
>
>    We couldn't function if we couldn't make that "leap of faith."  Being
>able to spot that pattern is a pretty early developmental stage.

All the examples you give are rather unfair.  It's quite possible to function normally while recognizing the possibility that physical laws will fail.  It's just also recongizing that the chances of this are rather slim (though basically unmeasurable) and that constant testing known laws will do little good.

Once again, it's the difference between thinking an idea is likely ("I think the sun will come up tomorrow, but have nothing more than prior evidence, quite possibly fallible, to support this claim") and believing it to be true ("I know the sun will come up")

Mr. Teapot
quite possibly fallible

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