20th November 2008, 7:15 PM
I'm not really taking the side of or against this document. My part in this argument is simply about what constitutes proof. If you've got more corroborating evidence to support the document is true, fine, I'll agree to it. I have no real interest in it, I'm already convinced GW Bush has been a terrible president. I just jump in when I see what I think is a poor argument.
The fact is, anyone can write anything down. It's a lot more important for the sun to actually BE the gravitational center of the solar system than for someone to simply say it is so, and for that to happen, measurements must occur, so no, a bunch of papers are not evidence of anything other than the opinion of the writer. And, if you can't verify that something actually was written by someone, it doesn't really matter if it "is totally what that guy would have said".
Surely historians do full background checks of whatever document they are examining to determine if it actually originated from the era in question? Surely they do fact checks to make sure that the things stated in it were actually true and not merely the ravings of a lunatic? Surely it amounts to more than simply checking to see if the nature of the text matches what the author usually writes?
The fact is, anyone can write anything down. It's a lot more important for the sun to actually BE the gravitational center of the solar system than for someone to simply say it is so, and for that to happen, measurements must occur, so no, a bunch of papers are not evidence of anything other than the opinion of the writer. And, if you can't verify that something actually was written by someone, it doesn't really matter if it "is totally what that guy would have said".
Surely historians do full background checks of whatever document they are examining to determine if it actually originated from the era in question? Surely they do fact checks to make sure that the things stated in it were actually true and not merely the ravings of a lunatic? Surely it amounts to more than simply checking to see if the nature of the text matches what the author usually writes?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)