• PeggyLouBaldwin@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    it’s unprovable what might happen if a vote, known to have been cast one way, were cast some other way. this is known as a “counterfactual” and they are, tautologically, unprovable.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      it’s unprovable what might happen if a vote, known to have been cast one way, were cast some other way.

      Oh really?

      Scenario 1: Baseline

      • candidate A receives 10 votes
      • candidate B receives 9 votes
      • Outcome: Candidate A wins under plurality

      Scenario 2: Two voters for Candidate A are convinced not to vote (non-vote) or vote for a candidate other than A or B

      • candidate A receives 8 votes
      • candidate B receives 9 votes
      • Outcome: Candidate B wins under plurality

      Proof enough?

      • PeggyLouBaldwin@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        under what circumstances can you claim that two voters would vote differently, but nothing else would change? given that the circumstances changed enough for them to make a different decision, we must conclude that we don’t know enough about the fictional alternate reality to guess at the outcome.

        • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          indicates to me that you are detached from reality.

          And finally, after exhausting any logical defense, you arrive at ad hominem attacks! Thanks for playing have a good day!

          • PeggyLouBaldwin@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            it is not ad hominem to insist that someone who refuses basic tenets of reasoning is not dealing with reality.