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Robin Lionheart
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It's ironic that you cite “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” (which, by the way, was cosmologist Martin Rees’ aphorism, not Carl Sagan’s), to introduce using what is absent (what wasn’t said, what isn’t there) as evidence.
Indeed, this “absence of evidence” maxim is one you should unlearn, since it is false. Frex, if you investigate the Monster Under Your Bed by looking underneath your bed, and find an absence of evidence for said monster, that is, in fact, evidence of the monster’s absence.
Or to put it in mathematical language: P(monster|~evidence of monster) < P(monster|evidence of monster)
Evidence of Unlearning
"The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." --Carl Sagan I love the above quote. It may take a little time to process its meaning but if you can--and, more important, if you can really takes it message to heart--you will have taken a big step down the path of unlearning. To better ...
This reminds me of something I a comment I left on a Christian blog, to a user who deplored "soulless and bloodless rationalists":
If by "bloodless", you mean "devoid of emotion", if you imagine we rationalists are incapable of such feelings as love, then it is you who are lacking in empathy.
Atheist Meme of the Day: Atheists Feel Love
Today's Atheist Meme of the Day. Pass this on; or don't; or edit it as you see fit; or make up your own. Enjoy! Atheists feel love. We don't see love as a supernatural force coming from God -- we see it as a human emotion, part of our evolution as a social species -- but that doesn't make it le...
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