This is our monthly thread for collecting these little gems and pearls of wisdom, rationality-related quotes you've seen recently, or had stored in your quotesfile for ages, and which might be handy to link to in one of our discussions.
- Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be voted up/down separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
- Do not quote yourself.
- Do not quote comments/posts on LW/OB.
- No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
Proposition 1: All matter is composed of four elements: earth, water, air, and, fire, each having an unchanging essence, and the variety of the world resulting from their combinations.
Proposition 2: All matter is composed of about 90 elements (the cutoff depending on how many of the more unstable ones one counts), most of which are created out of hydrogen and helium in stars and their supernovas, and which, in combination, give rise to the different material substances we observe.
More abstract proposition that ignores the differences: all matter is composed of fundamental elements.
Erroneous conclusion: the ancients knew modern science!
Proposition 1: Six thousand years ago, God created the world in six days.
Proposition 2: Everything started with the Big Bang some billions of years ago.
Abstract proposition: The universe had a beginning.
Erroneous conclusion: God created the universe. Scientists just call it the Big Bang because they don't want to admit it was God.
ETA: Further example: anyone saying that all religions are fundamentally the same.
ETA: Proposition 1: Here is a hammer. It drives nails.
Proposition 2: Here is a screwdriver. It drives screws.
Abstract proposition: Here is a tool. It drives spiky metal fasteners.
Erroneous conclusion: A Manchester screwdriver.
Thanks! I get it now.