The Odds Are One

A hermeneutic principle which states simply that the statistical odds of an event or phenomenon occurring are one (i.e. 100%) if that event or phenomenon has already occurred. It refutes statements such as "A divine creator is responsible for the existence of life on Earth, since it is too complex to have evolved by chance." Since life has already been observed to exist on Earth, a statistical analysis of how likely it would be to arise would yield no new information, nor would it provide any information AbOUT a divine creator.

The Odds Are One (sometimes referenced "OaO") also proposes that such questions or statements which purport to be about statistics, when they reference events that have already occurred, actually have meaning, but are unrelated to any actual statistical calculations. In the example above, e.g., the statement about the unlikelihood of life evolving reveals no statistical truths since life has already evolved, but reveals a lot about the world view of the person speaking it.