Benford's law of controversy
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For the statistics law, see Benford's law.
Benford's law of controversy,[1] as established by University of California at Irvine physicist and science-fiction author Gregory Benford[1][2] in the 1980 novel Timescape,[3] states:
- Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.[1][2]
Long a favorite in Usenet and web-board signature files, the adage has come to enough prominence to also be quoted in contexts as diverse as an international drug policy article in a peer-reviewed social science journal,[4] to a long-running objectivist philosophy newsletter.[5]
[edit] See also
- Cognitive dissonance
- Godwin's Law
- Truthiness
- List of eponymous laws
- List of adages named after people
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "EFF Quotes Collection 19.6", Electronic Frontier Foundation, 9 April 2001
- ^ a b "Quotations: Computer Laws", SysProg, retrieved 10 March 2007
- ^ Benford, Gregory [1980] (2000). Timescape. Gollancz. ISBN 1-8579-8935-X.
- ^ "American Distortion of Dutch Drug Statistics", by MacCoun, Robert J., Prof. of Public Policy and of Law at the University of California at Berkeley; Society, Vol. 38, No. 3, Pp. 23-26; March 1, 2001; official archival copy requires site registration; a copy of the article is also available at DrugText. The article is a followup to pieces the author already published in Science (1997) and the Annual Review of Psychology (1998)
- ^ "Quotations Used in WMail (The 'Working Minds' Philosophy Newsletter)", WorkingMinds.com. Quote appeared in WMail, Nordell, G.E. (ed.); Vol. IV, No. 36, October 2003.
[edit] External links
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