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| Eliminating the Impossible |
 Title text: 'If you've eliminated a few possibilities and you can't think of any others, your weird theory is proven right' isn't quite as rhetorically compelling. |
Explanation
The discussion in this comic plays upon the phrase originating from the fictional Sherlock Holmes (and therefore also his author, Arthur Conan-Doyle) that "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," which is used to describe his 'deductive reasoning' (although more accurately being 'abductive reasoning') used to solve the crimes and mysteries set before him.
White Hat is expounding this principle, to Cueball, as some key part of logic for some undisclosed purpose. Cueball responds by dismantling the core tenet through a critical analysis of various exceptions to this general rule. In the final panel, he demonstrates a pratical example of a misapplied version of the adage, which even White Hat agrees holds true as falsifying the stated hypothesis.
In the title text, it goes further in deconstructing how it might result in a logically incorrect argument from ignorance.
Transcript
[White Hat and Cueball are standing together and talking. White Hat has one hand slightly raised.]
- White Hat: As Sherlock Holmes said,
- White Hat: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
[Close-up of Cueball's head.]
- Cueball: What about the possibility that you forgot to eliminate a possibility?
- Cueball: Or that you eliminated one incorrectly?
- Cueball: Both of those remain, too.
[Zoom back out to show both parties. Cueball is holding his arms out.]
- White Hat: You're being pedantic.
- White Hat: It's just a general rule for deduction.
- Cueball: But it's a bad rule.
[Cueball is now holding up one finger.]
- Cueball: How often have you thought, "I can't find this thing, and I've searched the whole house. The only place I haven't looked is the car, so it must be there."
- White Hat: ...And then it's never in the car.
- Cueball: It's never in the car!
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