Logical Fallacies/Quotes

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Circular logic is self-validating. Therefore it is correct. —Anonymous

So, you have been sitting here thinking illogically about logical possibilities or logically about illogical possibilities. No wonder you are cranky. —Delenn, Babylon 5

Your logic does not resemble our Earth logic. —Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!" —Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Man is not logical and his intellectual history is a record of mental reserves and compromises. He hangs on to what he can in his old beliefs even when he is compelled to surrender their logical basis. —John Dewey

Logic doesn't apply to the real world. —Marvin Minsky

It's been a fascinating discussion, because ... I feel like we don't connect, like, on -- it's, like ... it's weird. Because ... I like you ... but I don't understand how your brain works. —Jon Stewart, wrapping up the Betsy McCaughey interview.

Presidents have a bully pulpit. When they place troops on a battlefield, even many people who saw no point in war rally round the flag; when they have potentially cancerous polyps removed from their colons (Ronald Reagan), thousands of people pick up the phone and make colonoscopy appointments. If a President can inadvertently push people to undergo colonoscopies, what else might a President do by example or by words? When a President declares the news media the “enemy of the American people,” what might otherwise reasonable citizens be inclined to think? —Michael Schudson, Here’s what non-fake news looks like

The main idea behind complex systems is that the ensemble behaves in way not predicted by the components. The interactions matter more than the nature of the units. Studying individual ants will never (one can safely say never for most such situations), never give us an idea on how the ant colony operates. For that, one needs to understand an ant colony as an ant colony, no less, no more, not a collection of ants. —from Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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8-Bit Theater

"In the arena of logic, I fight unarmed!" -- Red Mage Red Mage: Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic can not be stopped. The success or failure of any step will have no impact on the macro level. Black Mage: That's so stupid I can't even see straight any more. Red Mage: Now imagine what'll happen when physics tries to figure it out! Ranger: Only people who aren't us have disappeared, Rogue. Should this pattern continue, we ought to be fine. Rogue: Why does that make more sense than I think it should? Ranger: Don't question it! Rogue: Right. Okay. I have to believe that this will work out in the end. Sarda: That's a shame. Red Mage: We need to use your heart. Black Mage: So do I! It moves my blood around. Red Mage: Not if we kill you! Black Mage: That's distressingly logical. Thief: Red Mage, this the worst plan yet in your lifetime filled with nothing but the worst plans. Red Mage: It will work, I guarantee it! Black Mage: It starts at the impossible before moving on to the even more impossible. Red Mage: Precisely! Red Mage: I'll need more proof than a logical fallacy. Jeff: In a recent poll, it was found that 100% of Jeffs were very handsome and thought Black Mage survived. Why don't you. Is it because you're ugly? Red Mage: That's enough logical fallacies to convince me. Black Mage is fine.