Harmless supernova fallacy

Abstract

This article discusses the “harmless supernova fallacy,” a set of informal fallacies involving false dichotomies and continuum fallacies. These fallacies are often used to argue that various phenomena, including supernovae, are harmless by falsely equating “not utterly destructive” with “harmless.” Examples of this fallacy include arguing that a supernova is harmless because it doesn’t destroy everything, or because less energetic events are harmless. The article explains why such reasoning is flawed, emphasizing that there is a spectrum of potential harm and that something can be significantly damaging without being completely destructive. – AI-generated abstract.