Alt-rockers They Might Be Giants explain/advocate empiricism in a record aimed at young children.
Don't believe it 'cos they say it's so
If it's not true you have a right to know --
Put it to the test!
No, it's not quite Bayesian. The bridge ("A fact is just a fantasy, unless it can be checked") is more or less simply wrong. Still, I find the fact that the Ancient Art of Rationality is getting play at all pretty exciting. What do you all think? And what can we do to get more rationalist -- or even proto-rationalist -- ideas to youngsters?
right, but it seems to strongly imply that "there is no chocolate cake in the asteroid belt" is a fantasy as well, since it cannot be checked.
We do have evidence that there is no chocolate cake in the asteroid belt -- we have evidence that it would be very improbable for a cake of any flavor to generate spontaneously, and we have evidence that the special conditions that result in cake here on Earth are not present in the asteroid belt. And we can 'check' this evidence..
Is there a more definitive example of why it's not true that "A fact is just a fantasy, unless it can be checked"?