• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          History can very much let you infer how the future will go. That’s literally how we determine what might happen.

          • reddit_sux@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            Well history did tell that convicted felon wouldn’t become the president but that didn’t come true.

            So yes history can give an inkling about the future but it is just that, nothing more, not an absolute.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              7 days ago

              That does not involve statistical predictions based on previous elections. As far as I know, only one other convicted felon ran for president- Eugene V. Debs. Considering he was a socialist, his chances were slim.

              I’m sure you know that the sample size of two is not really something you can base election predictions on. You can base them on voting patterns every four years. Really, every two.

              If predictions based on previous history didn’t work, neither would weather reports.

              The big issue here is that you seem to think making predictions based on historical statistics has to always be right or always be wrong, rather than right far more often than wrong.