• PeggyLouBaldwin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    5 months 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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      5 months 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?

        • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          5 months 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
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            5 months ago

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

      • PeggyLouBaldwin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        5 months 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.