Joshua_Fox comments on The Crackpot Offer - Less Wrong

42 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 September 2007 02:32PM

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Comment author: Joshua_Fox 08 September 2007 07:10:39PM 9 points [-]

I was not displaying ... any ... virtue

Most math teachers would be delighted if a student was able to understand Cantor's proof, think critically enough to search for a counter-proof, think creatively enough to describe a counter-proof (and based on different mathematical constructs at that), even though the proof was wrong at some critical steps.

This would be quite an achievement even for those who do not go on to the crucial last step of thinking self-critically enough to find the mistake in that "proof."