The 1.02 Gigawatt Fallacy

[Editor's note: in this page, RSA attacks my Star Wars vs Star Trek in Five Minutes page, by seizing upon the fact that it separately compares SW literature to ST literature (as the "Lazy Man's Method") and SW canon to ST canon. Since ST literature is not canon, he seizes upon the opportunity to scream (as usual) that I'm a liar and guilty of a "fallacy" for even mentioning it, even if I point this out myself]

While it is clear that the Star Trek Technical Manual does get things wrong, it is equally clear that the attack on Mr. Wong's site by Mr. Anderson is completely unfounded. Wong states clearly that he is using the technical manual for that particular point, and that this is considered "The Lazy Man's Method." Obviously, Mike does not consider this to be a particularly accurate method of comparing the two universes, but he does use it just to demonstrate a point.

Anderson explains how terrible Mike Wong's page is, and makes numerous unsubstantiated claims. He explains that:

"as always happens in such circumstances, the Warsie has chosen to ignore certain important facts . . . and even more embarrassingly, he has leapt before he (literally) looked.

First, there's the simple matter of the Paramount policy in regards to what is and is not Star Trek canon fact, established for quite some time. Of course, simple matters of canon policy do not restrain the Warsie, since on that very same page he chooses to ignore other Star Wars non-canon, as well."

Anderson clearly did not even both to read Mr. Wong's page, or he would have noticed Wong write: "the visual look of each series is often more consistent than published material (particularly in the case of Star Trek, where the TM contradicts itself repeatedly and has several astonishingly bad science errors. Moreover, the ST books' status has been officially stated as mere "speculation"." Clearly Anderson's critique is an irrelevant nitpick, as Mike specifically noted this in his essay. It looks like it is Anderson who "has leapt before he (literally) looked." Note that this is in response to a page entitled, "Star Wars vs Star Trek in Five Minutes." Apparently, Anderson did not bother to spend the full five minutes reading through what Mr. Wong wrote. Incidentally, Mr. Anderson also uses the Technical Manual numerous times on his own web page, noting at the top of each of these pages the use of the manual. In short, Mr. Anderson criticizes Mike Wong for doing the same thing that he repeatedly does himself. Mike accredited the Technical Manual with being a source for this, and noted that this is not as accurate a method as simply using the actual, on-screen evidence. Anderson does the same thing. What's the difference?


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