Comment author: AlexMennen 04 September 2012 02:11:40AM 22 points [-]

Discovery is the privilege of the child, the child who has no fear of being once again wrong, of looking like an idiot, of not being serious, of not doing things like everyone else.

Alexander Grothendieck

Comment author: Fyrius 12 September 2012 02:47:12PM 5 points [-]

...screw it, I'm not growing up.

Comment author: chaosmosis 09 September 2012 12:34:36AM 11 points [-]

"You're very smart. Smarter than I am, I hope. Though of course I have such incredible vanity that I can't really believe that anyone is actually smarter than I am. Which means that I'm all the more in need of good advice, since I can't actually conceive of needing any."

  • New Peter / Orson Scott Card, Children of the Mind
Comment author: Fyrius 12 September 2012 02:02:55PM 3 points [-]

That's a modest thing to say for a vain person. It even sounds a bit like Moore's paradox - I need advice, but I don't believe I do.

(Not that I'm surprised. I've met ambivalent people like that and could probably count myself among them. Being aware that you habitually make a mistake is one thing, not making it any more is another. Or, if you have the discipline and motivation, one step and the next.)

Comment author: ChristianKl 09 September 2012 10:49:29PM 12 points [-]

“The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasn’t misled you into thinking you know something you actually don’t know.”

― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Comment author: Fyrius 12 September 2012 01:44:57PM 1 point [-]

Well. Surely that's only part of the real purpose of the scientific method.

Comment author: Vaniver 12 September 2012 01:44:20AM *  6 points [-]

The critique is of the phrase "but to be of no mind whatsoever."

The uncharitable interpretation is that something without a mind is a rock; the charitable interpretation is to take "mind" as "opinion."

I ended up downvoting the criticism because it doesn't apply to the substance of the quote, but to its word choice, and is itself not as clear as it could be.

Comment author: Fyrius 12 September 2012 01:27:28PM 7 points [-]

I'm amazed how you guys manage to get all that from "dur". My communication skills must be worse than I thought.

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 02 October 2011 04:32:15PM 3 points [-]

Your source has no mouseover text.

Comment author: Fyrius 03 September 2012 12:54:59PM 0 points [-]

This time it's an actual link.

Comment author: Alicorn 05 August 2012 07:18:30PM 18 points [-]

My knee had a slight itch. I reached out my hand and scratched the knee in question. The itch was relieved and I was able to continue with my activities.

-- The dullest blog in the world

Comment author: Fyrius 02 September 2012 10:18:33AM 3 points [-]

...I don't really get why this is a rationality quote...

Comment author: lukeprog 23 July 2012 04:04:54AM 4 points [-]

Hope is the confusion of the desire for a thing with its probability.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Comment author: Fyrius 29 July 2012 05:02:56PM 4 points [-]

If that's how it works, then I suspect paranoia is the same thing, but with fear instead of desire.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 13 July 2012 06:08:33AM 0 points [-]

Would your opinion of the quote change if "fighting dishonorably" were replaced by "violating the Geneva convention"?

Comment author: Fyrius 13 July 2012 02:04:31PM 1 point [-]

Perhaps. I'd say that should depend on the price for failure and how that compares to the violation. But point taken.

Comment author: Grognor 12 July 2012 04:22:48AM *  6 points [-]

I have a general policy of downvoting anything in rot13. No, I'm not going to work to read your comment!

Instead, put your spoiler text in the hover text of a fake url, like this

Syntax:

[like this](http://notareal.url/ "See? See how much better this is?")
Comment author: Fyrius 13 July 2012 01:59:37PM *  0 points [-]

Ah. I just picked up that technique from MinibearRex up there. I see you said it first, so kudos to you, then. It's a useful trick. I'll remember it.

...incidentally, if it's too much work to click the link, copy-paste the text and click the button, then you might save yourself even more time and effort by just scrolling on without bothering to click the thumbs-down button either. There are friendlier ways to express disapproval, too. But thanks for the advice, I'll try to be less of a bother next time.

Comment author: MinibearRex 13 July 2012 12:33:48AM 6 points [-]

I like the quote, though really there's no particular reason to put it in rot13.

Minor point: The character's name is spelled Oebaa

Comment author: Fyrius 13 July 2012 01:34:36PM *  2 points [-]

[Hiding a spoiler in the alt tag of a fake link]

...huh. Well wow. I'm going to remember that trick, that's clever. I had no idea you could do that here.

Also, noted, and fixed.

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