It is an argument by induction based on a naive extrapolation of a historic trend.
This characterization could be a good first step to construct a convincing counter argument. Are there examples of other arguments by induction that simply extrapolate historic trends, where it is much more apparent that it is an unreliable form of reasoning? To be intuitive it must not be too technical, e.g. “people claiming to have found a proof to Fermat’s last theorem have always been wrong in the past (until Andrew Wiles came along)” would probably not work well.
This characterization could be a good first step to construct a convincing counter argument. Are there examples of other arguments by induction that simply extrapolate historic trends, where it is much more apparent that it is an unreliable form of reasoning? To be intuitive it must not be too technical, e.g. “people claiming to have found a proof to Fermat’s last theorem have always been wrong in the past (until Andrew Wiles came along)” would probably not work well.
Good idea! I thought of this one: https://energyhistory.yale.edu/horse-and-mule-population-statistics/