Re: Inquiry:How to totally wipe out the entire hard drive
On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Florian Kulzer
<florian.kulzer+debian@icfo.es> wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 23:56:47 -0400, Napoleon wrote:
>> It is only their opinion that it cannot be done.
> Wright et al. have empirical evidence supporting their conclusions.
No they do not.
This key to this issue is that when one consults an expert, no matter
how many credentials they have, one must consider their statements
critically.
An expert (or even a nuby/amatur) who claims "I know how to do this"
should get the benefit of the doubt and be believed. Similarly, an
expert who says "I do not know how to do this" should also be
believed. If they say "I have tried many ways to do this and found
none that works" they should be believed and probably consulted as to
how to not accomplish the goal.
But if they say "I know that it is not possible for anyone to do this"
then they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. They have to
provide a proof. Now if they can elaborate by saying "the laws of the
universe prohibit anyone from doing this" and can provide a valid
proof then they should be believed.
But the authorities you quote do not have such a proof. In fact they
do not even have any evidence. What they have is an opinion as to the
difficulty of reaching the goal, about which they should be believed.
Please do not confuse "that is hard" with "that is impossible".
Meditatively,
Lee Winter
NP Engineering
Nashua, New Hampshire
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