Thomas comments on Rationality Quotes July 2011 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: Normal_Anomaly 03 July 2011 06:41AM

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Comment author: Thomas 13 July 2011 12:10:52PM 5 points [-]

No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish.

  • David Hume
Comment author: MixedNuts 13 July 2011 01:20:15PM *  2 points [-]

...man, even I can write more clearly than that. Jefferson said it much better (and he was wrong):

I would sooner believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven.

If you want the formal general version rather than the concrete example: "To prove a miracle, finding out your proof is false must be weirder than the miracle." - still bad writing, but better than Hume's.

Incidentally, this is a good principle. I think. (How would you check?) There are a few things I believe because the alternative involves delusions so weird I expect human brains can't support them and keep functioning, even given the existence of some really weird delusions.

Edit: Jefferson might not actually have said it, it's unclear.