News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Obama to release FISA court opinion that ruled NSA surveillance unconstitutional. Parent comment

Re:Obama to release FISA court opinion that ruled NSA survei... by haliax on Friday August 09, 2013 @10:15PM (#6189815)
I have to take issue with the point about negative statements, surely it's no more fruitful to say "Prove there IS an invisible ball of undetectable mass swirling in my hand."

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that it's fruitless to place the burden of proof on a statement which is syllogistically isolated from any statement known to be true?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Obama to release FISA court opinion that ruled NSA survei... by dylangs1030 on Friday August 09, 2013 @10:39PM (#6189872)
No, it is more fruiful to say, "Prove there is..." because that's the basis of scientific/mathematical rigor. If you can prove it exists, it does. If you can't prove it exists, it doesn't, for all intents and purposes. You then act as though it doesn't, because until you can find evidence for it, it might as well be nonexistent, and you should act that way to be logical.
[ Parent | on HN ]