• FlowVoid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    If you predict that a particular die will land on a 3-6 and it lands on a 2, then you were wrong. Predictions are occasionally wrong, that’s unavoidable in the real world. Maybe the die wasn’t fair and you should adjust your priors.

    On the other hand, if you refuse to make a prediction but simply say a particular die has a >50% chance of landing above 2, then your claim is non-falsifiable. I could roll a hundred 1’s in a row, and you could say that your probability is correct and I was just unlucky. That’s why non-falsifiable claims are ultimately worthless.

    Finally, if you claim that a theoretically fair die has a 2/3 probability of landing on 3-6 then you are correct, but that does not necessarily have anything to do with the real world of dice.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      He said Trump had a 28% chance of winning, and Trump won. So he was also “right.” Do you see now why what you’re saying is incorrect?

      If I say there is a 4 in 6 probability of a six-sided die rolling a 1-4, I’m correct, even though I’m going to be “wrong” many times. My probability is still correct, and we would verify that by rolling the die a thousand times and looking at the statistical distribution of each number coming up.

      But you can’t rerun an election 1000 times to “prove” the probability.

      • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        He said Trump had a 28% chance of winning, and Trump won. So he was also “right.” Do you see now why what you’re saying is incorrect?

        Suppose I said Trump had a 72% chance of winning the same election, which Trump won. Am I also “right”?

        If so, how can it be that Trump has a 28% chance of winning and a 72% chance of winning?

        If not, why is he right instead of me?