The BME study is one statistical study that if applied to the principle by which the null hypothesis is tested, does suggest that the null hypothesis is probably false.
Probably??
You don’t falsify the null hypothesis with a ‘probably’ based on your wishful thinking about the existence of aliens in metal space ships. You falsify with incontrovertible, verifiable, objective evidence! Duh.
As Stray Cat has pointed out, you still don’t get the concept of the null hypothesis. In fact, I think you’re getting confused because not only don’t you understand how experimental and null hypotheses work to complement each other, you also haven’t understood statistical significance and probabilities. You appear to be conflating the definition of probability in statistics with the use of the word “probably” in everyday conversation.
They are not the same thing. You can’t go bandying around that UFOs are “probably” not of mundane origin when not a single UFO has ever been shown to be of non-mundane origin. I explain this a little more at the end of this post.
NOTE: "It is important to understand that the null hypothesis can never be proven." ( Wikipedia )
Yes, I’m well aware the null hypothesis can never be proven, thanks, that’s why the aim is to falsify it, not prove it. Remember when Mr Timbo, the science teacher, was telling you about flipped coins turning into butterflies? You can’t observe every single coin flip in the whole world, which you would need to do in order to prove the null hypothesis, so you set about finding one single incidence of a flipped coin turning into a butterfly.
Do you understand this? That is, the difference between proving something to be true by observing an infinite number of events, and falsifying it by observing
just one?
So remember that any suggestion here that the null hypothesis needs to be proven false before is can be concluded that it is probably false is a faulty application of the null hypothesis.From Wikipedia:
"Hypothesis testing works by collecting data and measuring how likely the particular set of data is, assuming the null hypothesis is true. If the data-set is very unlikely, defined as belonging to a set of data that only rarely will be observed (usually in less than either 5% of the time or 1% of the time), the experimenter rejects the null hypothesis concluding it (probably) is false."
“Probably” is completely meaningless in a situation where not a single UFO has been demonstrated to be of alien origin. See in that passage above where it says “only rarely will be observed”? There’s the rub, Floggy. It’s not that people go out and observe Alien Space Ships
rarely; an Alien Space Ship has
never been observed. Not
ever! Not 5 times out of every 100 (95% probability of not being an Alien Space Ship), or even 1 time out of every 100 (one ASS out of every 100 UFOs).
Statistical probability is used in science where at least two outcomes have been observed, but then the probability of either one or other outcome needs to be calculated. That’s why it’s only muddying the waters here. It really is much simpler than this.
Mr Timbo will be back from break in a minute, I’m sure he’ll be able to explain this to you better than I can.
So as you can see, the skeptic's application of the null hypothesis here has no real value in determining the absolute truth, existence, or nature of UFOs. It's a pointless excercise that isn't suited to and wasn't designed for the study of ufology. It's main place is in the testing of medical treatments and other biological experiments where the effects are too complex to measure with absolute certainty. I've mentioned this before, even provided links to the statistician who developed the null hypothesis in the first place, yet it has continued to be ignored by the skeptics here who have continued to misrepresent me on the issue with statements suggesting I came up with it or that it's "my hypothesis". It is no such thing. I address it here only for the sake of discussion.
No, the null hypothesis is very valuable in determining the existence (or lack of) evidence for UFOs being Alien Space Ships. Forget fretting about statistical significance, Floggy, it’s only confusing you further.