











Techy geeky stuff

First, a quick walkthrough of ADSL layers:

    • Downstream is bins 32 to 255 in ADSL1 and ADSL2







Aren't committees wonderful?



Subtle discrimination

Note: this post was edited on 26th February 2009.

















Edit on 26th February 2009:






Market abuse; or, extending control from one market to another




Not abuse
Tying reception of your TV channels with your TV receiver box.
Not abuse
Tying reception of your TV channels with your encryption card.
Not abuse






Science, pseudo-science and non-science

As someone who holds strong opinions, I'm often found arguing with people; because my education is scientific, the debate is often around a subject where "scientific evidence" is expected to carry the day. Most of the time, the claimed "scientific evidence" is nothing of the sort - often, it's nonsense using "sciency" words to seem right.

It's quite simple to tell science from non-science, and not that much harder to distinguish pseudo-science from science. If you're planning to argue using "scientific evidence", please make sure it's genuinely scientific before you start.

Non-scientific claims are based on authority, not on testable evidence. Examples include "my doctor tells me that this drug will suppress the symptoms of my hayfever", or "the Bible tells me that God loves everyone". Non-scientific claims don't have to be false; they can be a useful shortcut to avoid going over basic knowledge again and again, or you could be in a realm that science cannot speak on.

Scientific claims have two properties. Firstly, they are based on testable evidence; secondly, when the claim has been tested, it has been found to be "not false".

Pseudo-scientific claims are very similar to scientific claims. The difference is that where a scientific claim has been found to be not false, a pseudo-scientific claim has been found to be true.

The distinction between found not false and found to be true is subtle, and bears further examination; it's about the way in which you test the relationship between your claim and your evidence. When you find a claim "not false", you start with your claim, and think of a way to gather evidence that the claim is false. You then try to gather that evidence; the claim is found not false when your evidence does not contradict the claim.

In contrast, when you find a claim "true", you start with the claim, and try and gather as much evidence as you can of the claim being true. The claim is found to be true if the evidence does indeed agree with your claim.

This does not sound like a huge difference; however, in practice, people tend to find the evidence they set out to gather, unless that evidence genuinely does not exist. What's more, for many of the claims we wish to evaluate, there are many reasons why the claim could appear true.

For example, earlier in the year, I suffered from a bout of flu, lasting about 4 days in total; during that time, I took Tamiflu. Now, I could claim that Tamiflu cured my illness, and point to the fact that I had flu, I took a course of Tamiflu, and I was then healthy again as evidence. This would be evidence that backs up the claim that "Tamiflu cures flu" in a pseudo-scientific fashion, and would be clearly flawed - would I have recovered without Tamiflu?

Against that, I might claim that my camera "sees" infrared light; the test would be to get a high intensity IR source, and if it didn't show up in a photo taken by my camera, I'd know my claim was wrong. If it shows up, then that reinforces the claim, and it's up to me to try another way of disproving it; as I struggle to find a way to disprove it that works, it becomes less and less likely that my claim is false.

The challenge, then, for people presenting "scientific" claims, is to show that they are backed by evidence, and that the evidence has been gathered by trying to prove the claim wrong. In an ideal world, you describe why you gathered the evidence you did, and how I could gather it myself, so that I can check your claim. I can then be confident in your claim, knowing that if I start to disagree, I can check it.

Ground Rules

Welcome to my blog. This is a place for me to post my opinions and thoughts, and to invite feedback from anyone who happens to be interested.

I do not intend to cause offence; I will try and explain my views clearly and rationally. In return, I would like anyone who comments to do the same. All comments are moderated; if I edit or redact part of a comment before letting it through, I will clearly indicate the change. I will also clearly indicate any changes made to blog posts after I publish them.

I am English, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, white, male, middle-class and university-educated; I try to see other points of view, but you may have to explain things that you would expect to be obvious. If it looks like I don't get it because I've not been there, tell me what I'm missing.

If you think I'm wrong on an objective fact, please provide references to back your point of view up. Web references are best, as I can check them at the computer, but I can always go and look in the local library for a book if needed. In particular, if you are claiming that something is illegal in the UK, please cite an act that I can look up on the Statute Law website; similarly, if you are claiming that an organisation prohibits or permits something, please give me something that I can use to go and check exactly what they claim.

For example, if you wish to claim that Ofcom (a UK regulatory body) requires telephone providers to route 112 to the emergency services, saying "Ofcom requires them to route 112 to the 999 call centre" isn't helpful. Saying "Ofcom's general condition 4 requires them to route 112 to the 999 call centre" allows me to check what the regulation actually is, and is therefore a better way of saying it. There are bonus points if you provide a link to your reference on the web, so that I can easily find it - in this example, something like "Ofcom's general condition 4 requires...".

I hope to learn from this experience, and I hope you enjoy reading my blog.