What is the history of $p < 0.05$ or 95% confidence? I'm wondering what the history of $p < 0.05$ or using a 95% confidence interval is. I know that more nuanced reasoning would argue that there is nothing special about 0.05 or 95% (I think decision theory offers guidance on what level of risk to accept) and that the usage of these numbers has more to do with "tradition" and doing what was taught in stats courses that themselves don't discuss why these numbers should be used well.
Wasn't it Fisher who suggested that $p < 0.05$ was small enough to discard a hypothesis, and mostly just as a suggestion rather than a rule? Or am I wrong on that?

As I remember it, it was indeed Fisher who threw 0,05 out there, as a suggestion, and this has been taken as law in many circles since then. I don't have the book at hand, but I read the passage once, and it can probably be found through a quick Google search.
I am not that familiar with decision theory, so I can't definitively say that Fisher is the only reason for this.
