[_delirium]

Yeah, the first half of this seems to be mostly for color rather than really debunking the slogan. Not even the most naive users of the slogan "you can't prove a negative" literally think that you cannot prove negatively phrased mathematical or logical claims, such as "1 + 2 != 5".

[awptimus]

It's just missing the better alternative. It's much more correct and useful to say "given all evidence the probability there are yeti is almost zero" correctly doesn't rule it impossible and correctly asserts that we shouldn't behave as if they do. I mean, if we're fine when the entire physics community go nuts with excitement when we make a mistaken measurement of a neutrino going faster than light, why worry about a person who thinks they saw a yeti try to find a yeti?

[coldtea]

>Not even the most naive users of the slogan "you can't prove a negative" literally think that you cannot prove negatively phrased mathematical or logical claims, such as "1 + 2 != 5".

What happens is that the most "naive users of the slogan" don't take their thinking that far, that's why they believe it. It's not that don't think you cannot prove negatively phrased mathematical or logical claims, it's they don't understand that that would be a counter-example to their "can't prove a negative" claim.