Baughn comments on Open thread, Jan. 18 - Jan. 24, 2016 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: MrMind 18 January 2016 09:42AM

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Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 18 January 2016 10:26:54PM *  5 points [-]

Is here any interest in posts about parenting with a lesswrong touch? Example:


Mental Images Part of Philosophy with Children

This evening my oldest asked me to test his imagination. Apparently he had played around with it and wanted some outside input to learn more about what he could do. We had talked about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_image before and I knew that he could picture moving scenes composed of known images. So I suggested

  • a five with green white stripes - diagonally. That took some time - apparently the green was difficult for some reason, he had to converge there from black via dark-green
  • three mice
  • three mice, one yellow, one red, and one green
  • the three colored mice running behind each other in circles (all no problem)
  • he himself
  • he himself in a mirror looking from behind (no problem)
  • two almost parallel mirrors with him in between (he claimed to see his image infinitely repeated; I think he just recalled such an experiment we did another time).
  • a street corner with him on the one side and a bike leaning an the other wall with the handlebar facing the corner and with a bicycle bell on the left side such that he cannot see the bike.
  • dito with him looking into a mirror held before him so he can see the bike behind the corner.

The latter took quite some time, partly because he had to assign colors and such so that he could fully picture this and then the image in the mirror. I checked by asking where the handlebar is and the bell. I had significant difficulties to imagine this and correctly place the bell. I noticed that it is easier to just see the bell once the image in the mirror has gained enough detail (the walls before and behind me, the corner, the bike leaning on the corner, the handlebar).

I also asked for a square circle which got the immediate reply that it is logically impossible.

If you have difficulties doing these (are judge them trivial): This is one area where human experience varies a lot. So this is not intended to provide a reference point in ability but an approach to teach human difference, reflection and yes also practice imagination - a useful tool if you have it. If not you might be interested in what universal human experiences are you missing without realizing it.


I'm currently writing these daily and posting them on the LW slack and the less-wrong-parents group.

Comment author: Baughn 19 January 2016 06:06:36PM 0 points [-]

I also asked for a square circle which got the immediate reply that it is logically impossible.

I am now imagining a square circle. That's interesting.

Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 19 January 2016 07:21:17PM 0 points [-]

Can you describe it?

Comment author: Baughn 20 January 2016 03:48:12AM 1 point [-]

It's circular, and square.

That's literally all there is. I can't imagine it visually, the way I usually would. Wonder why. :P

Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 20 January 2016 07:00:21AM 0 points [-]

Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.'

I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!

― Lewis Carroll

See also this article discussing the usefulness of believing impossible things.

Comment author: roystgnr 20 January 2016 06:05:47AM 0 points [-]

I can imagine it. You just have to embed it in a non-Euclidean geometry. A great circle can be constructed from 4 straight lines, and thus is a square, and it still has every point at a fixed distance from a common center (okay, 2 common centers), and thus is a circle.

Comment author: gjm 20 January 2016 08:06:10AM 2 points [-]

The four straight lines in your construction don't meet at right angles.