How does “You can’t prove a negative” work?
In: Mathematics
It doesn’t, because it’s a paradox. The statement “You can’t prove a negative” is, itself, a negative, so if you cannot prove it you have to disregard it, while if you can prove it, you have disproven it by proving it.
In reality, some negatives can be proven. For example:
* relativity can prove the statement “No object with mass can move as fast as light moves in the vacuum”
* Newtonian physics can prove the statement “There is not a counter-Earth behind the Sun”
* Genetics can prove the statement “There can be no hybrid organism between Homo sapiens and Musca domestica”
The correct procedure to follow is: “Whoever makes a statement, must prove it, or else it is worthless.”
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