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You and I both know that black holes are not detectable. Dave's decision to become a black hole hunter is therefore, shall we say, ludicrous.

a) appeal to emotion b) mistaking the person (or group) for the claim/argument
c) bad (fallacious) appeal to authority
d) no fallacy
e) proof substitute f) appeal to common belief

User Sam Joseph
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The statement that 'black holes are not detectable' is a fallacious argument referred to as an appeal to ignorance. Black holes indeed can be detected through indirect means like gravitational effects, X-ray emissions, and gravitational waves, contrary to the claim presented.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement that 'black holes are not detectable' and that becoming a black hole hunter is ludicrous represents a fallacious argument. Specifically, it is an appeal to ignorance. This type of fallacy uses a lack of evidence to a claim as proof that the claim is false. However, in fields such as astronomy and physics, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Black holes can indeed be detected, albeit indirectly, through the gravitational effects they exert on surrounding matter, the emission of X-rays from accretion disks, and the recent direct observation of gravitational waves from black hole mergers.

As such, the correct answer is that this statement is a fallacy, specifically an appeal to ignorance. It incorrectly assumes that because we do not have direct visual evidence of black holes, they do not exist or cannot be detected. This is contrary to astronomical observations and the current scientific understanding, which confirm that black holes do exist and can be studied through various methods.

User Lopa
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