forum for week of 24 October: Inference to the Best Explanation

For the population one, it is kind of hard to create a hypothesis through IBE since there are unpredictable events which may cause population to increase (baby-boomer, improvement of medicine) or decrease (world war) drastically. The marathon one is tricky since one cannot determine who the winner is based on the order at a certain time. However once someone crosses the line, it is evident that the participants behind that person will not be on a higher position. As for the maniac one, I agree with what Claire says, all the future events are determined by past events.