Re:Google Also Has Been Ordered to Help Unlock Phones, Recor...
by paulmd on Wednesday March 30, 2016 @09:26PM
(#11394382)
This is entirely a semantic argument, but if you have proof of something then there is no need for belief to enter into anything.
For example, the fact that the Earth is warming is a matter of fact, it's measurable that year on year the planet's temperature has increased. I don't need to believe it, it's observable. But the conjecture that it will continue warming is a belief - perhaps the models are entirely wrong and next year we will enter into a new ice age. You can't prove something will happen until it happens - maybe tomorrow Russell's Teapot will magically appear on the other side of the Sun, it's not a falsifiable claim.
I would say that a belief is a stronger conviction than a suspicion, but I don't think it necessarily implies ironclad proof.
Given a past record of bad behavior, I'm more than willing to believe in present abuses of state secret privileges. It's been rotten since it was created (US V Reynolds) and at this point the null hypothesis is that nothing has changed.
For example, the fact that the Earth is warming is a matter of fact, it's measurable that year on year the planet's temperature has increased. I don't need to believe it, it's observable. But the conjecture that it will continue warming is a belief - perhaps the models are entirely wrong and next year we will enter into a new ice age. You can't prove something will happen until it happens - maybe tomorrow Russell's Teapot will magically appear on the other side of the Sun, it's not a falsifiable claim.
I would say that a belief is a stronger conviction than a suspicion, but I don't think it necessarily implies ironclad proof.
Given a past record of bad behavior, I'm more than willing to believe in present abuses of state secret privileges. It's been rotten since it was created (US V Reynolds) and at this point the null hypothesis is that nothing has changed.