Equivalence in f-stops Yes, NO or But...

[Tronhard]

OK. SO.... I THINK THIS HAS RUN ITS LOGICAL COURSE, at least for what I was trying to find out.

THAT was how people come to a conclusion about something, how much that is based on facts that can be presented and how that is expressed in a debate. I alluded to this on my original post. This came from something my step-daughter was studying in her psych classes about constructive debate (or lack thereof) on the internet, as opposed to face-to-face. There is new tenancy for "alternative facts" of an unsubstantiated nature to creep into popular debate. I never expected the debate to degenerate because of the nature of this environment and its members, but I think it would be fair to say that everyone passed the "would I be prepared to say this to their face" test with flying colours!

What I have found (if you are interested) is that CiC is full of remarkably polite, patient and constructive members in such a debate compared to two other forums (which I shall not name) that had similar debates (NOT engineered by me). Well done there people!!! On one site I saw statements of belief based purely on the individuals' apparent expertise, but with no back-up whatsoever, followed by personal abuse... sad really...

Generally people followed my rather demanding guideline about providing backup materials, definitely best at that too. I have tried to steer away from expressing any view personally, but I have fuelled debate with a few quotes and references, some of which I expected to be contentious. Interestingly enough I have found that there exist detailed articles for and against the issue, and that some material approached it from different angles.

SO to all of you that participated, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You did CiC proud, and my step-daughter is pretty impressed too.

[Tronhard]

By the way, I was and am interested in the topic itself, and I still think it has merit in its own right, especially since I have come across people who view the issue from different perspectives. I encourage those who are interested to read the materials that have been presented and come to their own conclusions, and I particularly thank all those who contributed to what is an interesting top of discussion for the technically minded.