OR:
How many times have you heard this sentence?
If you don't eat, you'll die!
Well, you will, won't you? But
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? Have you ever tried it?
Thought so. Sissy!
Oh, but it's an empirical thing!
Really? Let's try to figure it out. To date there have been, let's say, 9×109 people. 3×109 of them are dead. Almost all of them ate something. The remaining 6×109 are (still) alive, but it seems fair to bet that
- Almost all of them also ate something; AND
- All of them will die.
True, a small number of these did not eat, and either died or will die. But the masses are on the side of eating and dying. So much for empirical proof.
But we know that if you don't eat, you'll die, and you also know that!
Calm down. Don't get so emotional. Have something to eat (you're not afraid it will kill you, are you?). All I'm trying to do is to discover where you get all these quaint notions from. And you might even convince me you're right. Just don't forget that when rail travel was invented, people said that
If you travel at 25mph, you'll die.