Here's another installment of rationality quotes. The usual rules apply:
- Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
- Do not quote yourself.
- Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, Overcoming Bias, or HPMoR.
- No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
That really asks for the Samuel Johnson's refutation...
You mean, "if matter exists and I can sense it, then I will sense the collision of real objects"?
Johnson's refutation was of "the world doesn't exist," with "I can sense it." Coombs' statement is "interpretation of facts rest upon theories, which rest upon assumptions." This holds true for sense data- "if I am not hallucinating, there is a monitor in front of me."