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Comment by LastTrain

2 days ago

[flagged]

Found the mafia. ;)

These comments are oddly common, but I've never understood the value of simply repeating the definition of uncertainty words like "may." Who is being informed here?

  • > Who is being informed here?

    I am being informed about the public opinion. Which I value more than articles. (Don't come me at with AI, I'm well aware that it makes all human communication bad and pointless in theory and more and more in practice, thx.)

  • Not every correlation deserves to be published in the press. If you think about it, it is weird that they even make articles out of statements that only "may" be true.

    • It is a matter of thresholds, of consequential bets over provisional non-trivial assessments, and of journalistic duty (taking note - the idea is not from the analyst but from sources; journalists take note that sources made statements).

      Analysts work speculatively. And the results of the speculation are not trivial when supported by strong elements.

    • > If you think about it, it is weird that they even make articles out of statements that only "may" be true.

      I thought about it. And it's very stupid to imagine uncertainty should be off limits. I hope that isn't what you meant.

      3 replies →

There is one "access free" paragraph in the page... "Police are coming to the conclusion".

What do you think may means

edit: What do you think other people think that may means

  • I think it means just that, which is why I used TL;DR? The article points out the correlation between mafia prevalence and lack of fentanyl overdoses and some speculation on whether those two things are connected.

    • > speculation

      Not any speculation but educated guesses from knowledgeable people.

    • What did you think other people would think “may” meant before your clarifying post?