JGWeissman comments on You don't need Kant - Less Wrong

21 Post author: Andrew 01 April 2009 06:09PM

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Comment author: JGWeissman 02 April 2009 07:14:16PM 2 points [-]

Understanding the process of extending math theory is essential if you want to be able to tell the difference between being led down a good path and being led down a bad path.

If all you do is memorize theorems without understanding their proofs, you can memorize false theorems and not know the difference until, maybe, a contradiction hits you over the head and demands attention.

Comment author: AspiringRationalist 24 March 2012 07:55:13AM 0 points [-]

Checking a solution is often a lot easier than generating an original solution. If you are not going to be generating original solutions, I would guess that there are better uses of your time than learning how to. In my schooling in general (at middle school and higher level), I was generally annoyed that most subjects were taught with the assumption that you were going to become a practitioner of that subject, rather than simply a user. Naturally, every teacher thinks their subject is the most important in the world (why else would they have chosen it?), but most of their students do not see it that way. I would have been far better off learning how to communicate effectively rather than psychoanalyzing literature, just as those bound for non-quantitative careers would have been better off learning the math they need to keep their finances in order than constructing geometric proofs.