Abuse of Logic

Posted Sat Apr 26, 2008 in

Every now and again, a funny story comes along that illustrates logical problems. This one is good…

Scientific News Item

After having dug to a depth of 10 yards last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, California scientists dug to a depth of 20 yards, and shortly after, headlines in the LA Times newspaper read: “California archaeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers.”

One week later, The ‘Newport Daily Independent’, a local newspaper in Arkansas, reported the following:

“After digging as deep as 30 yards in cotton fields near Jacksonport in Jackson County, Bubba Johnson, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Arkansas had already gone wireless.”

Without beating a dead horse (so to speak), this is exactly the same line of logic abuse that made the Witch Scene in Holy Grail (here and here) so funny. “So, if she weighs the same as a duck, she must be…”