[extropy-chat] Failure of low-fat diet

[Russell Wallace]

On 2/23/06, Robin Hanson <rhanson at gmu.edu> wrote:
>
> The "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" heuristic is
> reasonable when "extraordinary claims" are taken to be those with a
> mountain of evidence supporting them.   If, however, any claim that
> goes contrary to your expectations counts as an "extraordinary
> claim", this becomes a recipe for just always preserving your
> expectations.
>

Oh, absolutely. In this case there is mountains of evidence supporting the
idea that disease - specifically, infectious diseases of the sort that have
now been mostly eradicated in the developed world - used to be the primary
cause of death; the requirement for extraordinary proof is for a claim that
is inconsistent with this evidence, not merely for one that goes contrary to
my expectations.

- Russell
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