Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 65 (9164 total)
4 online now:
Newest Member: ChatGPT
Post Volume: Total: 916,913 Year: 4,170/9,624 Month: 1,041/974 Week: 0/368 Day: 0/11 Hour: 0/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Oh those clever evolutionists: Question-begging abiogenesis
Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 4024 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 250 of 301 (249369)
10-06-2005 5:14 AM
Reply to: Message 244 by Modulous
10-06-2005 3:07 AM


Re: Probabilities aren't intuitive
Let's say I got arrested for a crime and the only evidence they had was that the criminal was British and a DNA sample. In court, the prosecution says "The chances of the DNA sample providing a false positive are a million to one, therefore you are almost certainly guilty"
I reply, "No, the event - 'DNA sample coming back positive' - has already occurred. There are now two possibilities, one is that I am the criminal, the other is that it is a false positive. There are 60 million people in Britain so 59 people would have given a false positive result. Therefore the chances of me being the criminal are 60-to-1 against. I am more likely to be not guilty"
I remember reading somewhere (EvC ?) that this approach is actually being used in U.S. Courts. It even has a special term for it. I have no idea of the success/failure rates.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 244 by Modulous, posted 10-06-2005 3:07 AM Modulous has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 252 by Modulous, posted 10-06-2005 6:16 AM Nighttrain has not replied

Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024