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by i_cannot_hack 3206 days ago
> The answer is obvious here: yes.

Let's say the statistical size of the effect is something around a millionth of a millionth of a percent, then I think most people would answer the question with "no" and be understood correctly by everyone. These kinds of questions almost always have a "big enough to have a perceptible impact"-clause implied. Pretending they don't feels needlessly pedantic.

1 comments

I took the comment as saying obviously it's not "millionth of a millionth of a percent". You are strawpersoning here.

There are going to be definite real world measurable differences.

OP leaves open the possibility, for instance, of cultural differences that have a effect an order or two of magnitude larger though.

Personally I doubt this, but OP seems open to the idea the size might be small.

In that case I would like them to define a lower bound of a "measurable difference" and give a clear case why the effect is obviously higher than that. Simply saying it's obvious when many people actually disagree is not very constructive.

I'm not saying they are wrong, I just disagree with the tone.