LogFAQs > #975577970

hockeybub89 posted...

But "there are only two genders" is demonstrably untrue. "If you ignore 150 million people, it's true" makes it not true.

It's closer to 136M if there are truly 8.045B people on earth but that's besides the point

The following numbers are made-up, but humor me. If there are 3 species of shark that make up 95% of the population, but 20 species of shark total, "There are only 3 species of sharks" is a factually incorrect statement, regardless of intent.

The statement would rightfully teeter along the lines of incorrect since 5% is a lot bigger than 1.7% probability-wise... The 3 major species cannot discount the existence of the other 20 species still technically exist, true. HOWEVER, it wouldn't exactly be incorrect to say that the 3 main species are the only ones roaming the waters because eventually a conclusion has to be made. Under technicality, if the other 15 species went extinct and the last species had even one living individual remaining, it would be incorrect to say there are only 3 species of sharks, but it would also be correct at the same time.

For humans, there is only one human species. The 98.3% of people that are male or female do not discount the existence intersex people, but they do establish that there are standard rules to human biology. "There is male and female" is false only if you're being needlessly technical for the sake of it.

A better mock analogy would be if it was like "These vaccines won't fail. They have a 98.3% efficacy rate." and then someone responding with "No that means they can fail. There's still a 1.7% chance"

The creator can safely say that they work. Would the other person be technically, technically correct? Yes... Will that make the creator wrong? No lol, and everyone will still trust him because they can come to a conclusion. After enough tests, you can conclude that there's a teeny-tiny chance that something different might happen, but that doesn't mean you can't also safely conclude what's going to happen.

There are very few things in this world that we are truly be 100% sure about. That's why you generally only need to be 98-99% sure.