Suppose it is claimed that a particular person was...

[Boojatta]

walking along a street in New York City at a certain time on a certain date. Suppose that it is also claimed that the same person was walking along a street in Seattle on the same date and at the same time.

If both claims are ordinary, then we would require merely ordinary evidence to establish that someone can be in New York City and Seattle simultaneously. However, the claim that someone was in both cities simultaneously is an extraordinary claim.

So, is the claim that someone walked along a street in New York City extraordinary?

Or is the claim that someone walked along a street in Seattle extraordinary?

[wtmusic]

1. It's meaningless to evaluate the extraordinary claim

that a person was walking in NYC and Seattle simultaneously as two independent ordinary claims (5 is an odd number, so 5 + 5 must also be odd).

[last1standing]

2. You've set up a premise then asked the wrong questions.

It is not extraordinary to walk, but to be in two places simultaneously. The places where it occurs are not relevant.

'Two men are walking down the street when one gets hit by a bus. Why is the sky blue?'

Yes, the sky was blue, but it had nothing to do with the premise.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Welcome to the wonderful world of Boojatta polls.

Now run like hell.

[Jamastiene]

5. Thanks for the advice.

:yoiks:

[beam me up scottie]

10. Don't mention it.

Minds infinitely greater than mine have been turned to Jello after participating in one of her polls.

[HamdenRice]

15. "one of her polls" ???

It's a "her"? Did he/she/it disclose its/his/her gender? For some reason it always struck me as male-ish.

[Random_Australian]

18. As far as I'm aware, Bmus is just using a given gender because it is easier to say than

he/she/it. That's what I do.

Booj also always struck me as more of a guy than a gal, but my goodness gracious am I *not* an expert on determining gender from posting habits. In fact, I kinda think that all I'm seeing is my own assumptions when I try and read personality into posting style.

[Random_Australian]

20. Ok, now I'm hopped up on quantum mechanics, so it's safe for me to participate.

Lowering operators!
Matrix formulation!
Bell's Theorem!
Quantum Computing!
Commutivity Relations!

By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!

Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero

He's our powers magnified
And he's fighting on the planet's side

Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero

Gonna help him put asunder
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder

"You'll pay for this Captain Planet!"

We're the Planeteers
You can be one too
'Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!

Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!

"The Power is Yours!"

[ZombieHorde]

17. This poll is particularly strange since there are no options to vote for.

[Random_Australian]

19. Ha, you're right. Booj's incomprehensible polls have become such a stereotype

that we tend to identify them as Boojatta polls even when they are not polls.

Heh, how about that.

[dweller]

4. none of the above

same as always
dp

[elshiva]

6. You are a looney.

[Random_Australian]

7. I like internal consistency. How about you?

"the claim that someone was in both cities simultaneously is an extraordinary claim"

Yay! You worked out what the extraordinary claim was. You then present us with two options for what the extraordinary claim was.

"is the claim that someone walked along a street in New York City extraordinary? Or is the claim that someone walked along a street in Seattle extraordinary?"

Verily, angels floated down and asked "what the fuck?"




Anyway, quibbles like basic logic aside, if you wanted extraordinary evidence for anything, it would be that both claims are true, not that either is.

So, both of those claims simultaneously is an extraordinary claim (as you pointed out), but neither on their own is.

[Boojatta]

9. Do scientists frequently write papers to identify all of the

claims that they are relying upon and to also establish that the combination of claims that they are relying upon is itself ordinary rather than extraordinary?

[Random_Australian]

11. No.

[mindwalker_i]

8. It depends on who is making each claim

If Jerry Falwel is claiming that the person was walking in Seattle, it might be an extraordinary claim unless they were wearing purple.

However, if Tom DeLay claimed the person was in New York City, I'd really wonder what set of borders he was using, whether they overlap with Seattle, and whether he or she was about to be mugged.

In the case that Shrodinger was on either side of the statement, I'd probably have to believe him. Questions about cats and radioactive isotopes would never be far from my thoughts.

If GWB came out on either side of the argument it would be safe to ignore him. Unless of course there was food involved and the person in question had a family.

If Dick Cheney was involved in any way,I'd run for cover behind Harry Whittington. It doesn't matter which city. Simply standing there would be extraordinarily stupid.

If the person in question was in Seattle, Sarah Palin would claim he or she was in New York just to take the maverick position. When called on the obvious fact that Sarah was lying, you would be chastised for looking toward the past and not the future. William Kristol would immediatly pop up out of the ground and tell you to leave Sarah alone.

All in all, this question would get you in a lot of trouble.

[RagAss]

12. A fish !

[FM Arouet666]

13. Suppose Schrödinger's cat is walking down the street

Now suppose that the cat has just ingested a small amount of lysergic acid diethylamide and wonders onto a train, the train is heading west from Philadelphia. Another train, traveling east also carries the same cat, but started out in Chicago. The Chicago cat ingested psilocybin mushrooms and is currently convinced that he is actually a dog, a cute little dog the likes of which Paris Hilton might carry around. So, is it extraordinary to claim that the Chicago cat with the canine drug induced fetish is the same as the acid tripping cat 1200 km away? Oh, and at what time, assuming both trains are traveling at the speed of light would they reach Detroit. What is the cat's weight and social security number, for extra credit.

Your evidence questions are getting old. Cut to the chase already, what is your agenda. Your posting in the RT forum, so are you taking a very, as in VERY, round about path toward a god proof?

[cyborg_jim]

14. Seems like Boojatta wants to find something that someone will, at somepoint go:

"Hmm, well it might be difficult to get good evidence for that but I'd believe it's true," but nobody is stupid enough to be trapped like that and have instead simply churned over how one should build a solid epistemology that tries to increase the quality of one's knowledge.

[HamdenRice]

16. There is no particular person...

Only Zuul!