If 10 people I respect tell me I am wrong, I have to accept that conclusion even if I do not understand why.
Couple of years ago when I said BFL are crooks and low life 10 people I respected (incl. mods) told me I was wrong. They were just bribed by BFL to do so.
That's a good first step, you've just admitted that you are capable, like the rest of us, of making mistakes (nobody should be respecting 10 people all of whom are easily bribed).
If we brush off all the pseudo scientific gibberish what gmaxell is basically saying we should treat all the irregularities as regular because of the big figures. Do we have to accept this knowledgeable explanation and move on
Absolutely not! However your rational are choices
are limited. As with any argument based in science or logic, you can either:
- Educate/fund yourself to the point where you can make investigations and an assessment on your own, or
- Ask someone you trust who has the relevant education/funding for their opinion.
I have never, not once, been into space. Yet I still believe there is (practically) no air in space. This is mostly as a result of the second choice above.
When it comes to this particular thread, I have enough of a background in math to easily follow gmaxwell's reasoning, and to largely dismiss valiron's.
The larger problem is the hubris which valiron seems to be displaying. If valiron were a troll, this would be expected. If valiron is simply having trouble following gmaxwell's reasoning, s/he should take a moment to consider that maybe s/he wrong, given the number of opponents there are.