All of arfle's Comments + Replies

arfle10

Really? One on one? I've certainly been to many 'read-out-the-textbook' lectures, but there's a good point to those, which is why I went. One on one I'd feel very robbed.

0MarkusRamikin
What's that?
arfle10

Is it sufficient to read the book aloud to them even if you don't understand it yourself? If so why isn't there a profession of ill-educated freelance book-readers?

5katydee
Many tutors are more or less exactly that.
arfle-20

So are you claiming to be a counterexample to 'weight change=calories in - calories out'?

arfle30

Mathematics. No problems there because the wisdom of the ancients is still true.

9JoshuaZ
Actually, a surprisingly large amount isn't. For example, the entire use of infintesimals had to be rethought during the mid nineteenth century and replaced with rigorous constructions over the real numbers. It wasn't until a century later that a rigorous use of infitesimals was constructed and it looked pretty different from the version used by Newton and the people after him. Similarly, the question of how polyhedra's Euler characteristic behaved advanced through a series of proofs followed by counterexamples to the "proofs." (Although my understanding is that it wasn't quite as extreme as what occurs in Lakatos's "Proofs and Refutations.") Nicomachus in his treatise on perfect numbers (from around 100 CE) made a number of incorrect statements that took almost a thousand years to be shown to be wrong.
2anonym
I think that the sort of epistemic viciousness talked about here is stronly correlated with having a single teacher for a very long period of time, in addition to the other factors mentioned elsewhere. For that reason, mathematics isn't a good example, because people don't study with just one teacher for 10 or 20 years or more like they do with martial arts and music study and many of the other fields in which the epistemic viciousness is common.
arfle20

"Well, I code in Python most of the time, and I tend to write in functional/imperative style because it's so much clearer and more concise to me and to others who I can consider to be more advanced. Funny thing is, people who think in procedural style find it very difficult to read my demonstrably functional code. " [Italics added]

Perhaps you could show us examples of the two contrasting styles?

If we are truly in contact with someone who can accurately form abstractions without considering examples, then I would expect to be impressed and baffled... (read more)

arfle100

And then when you've got his attention, show him decimal notation.

And stirrups for his horse. And lances.

Once he's hooked, show him why things float. And how a ball rolling down an inclined plane moves 1, 4, 9, 16 as it accelerates.

Show him Cartesian geometry. And how to play go with lines scratched in the ground and coloured stones. Make a recorder and play him some songs.

He'll teach you Greek.

Show him how to send messages using flashing mirrors. Show him Playfair's cipher. Perspective drawing. How to make a magnifying glass. Newton's cradle. Make a mode... (read more)

1Viktor Riabtsev
Oh god. That is actually just humongous in it's possible effect on warfare. I mean add simple ciphers to it and you literally add another whole dimension to warfare. Communication lines setup this way are almost like adding radio. Impractical in some situation, but used in regional warfare with multiple engagements? This is like empire forming stuff just from reflective stone plus semi-trivial education equals dominance.
gwern150

I suspect in a day in Ancient Greece, you'd see so many easily solved problems that my list would look naive.

This is one of the more interesting approaches to the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (as I dub this species of thought problem) - that you don't need any special preparation because your basic background means that you'll spend the rest of your life in the past rushing around yelling 'don't do that, you idiot, do it this way!'

Diplomacy might actually be the best preparation.

arfle150

A plastic bottle out of the trash. It's transparent but flexible and almost weightless. See how well the lid has been made? It makes a water-tight seal.

It might be the most valuable object in Greece.

arfle100

And then when you've got his attention, show him decimal notation.

And stirrups for his horse. And lances.

Once he's hooked, show him why things float. And how a ball rolling down an inclined plane moves 1, 4, 9, 16 as it accelerates.

Show him Cartesian geometry. And how to play go with lines scratched in the ground and coloured stones. Make a recorder and play him some songs.

He'll teach you Greek.

Show him how to send messages using flashing mirrors. Show him Playfair's cipher. Perspective drawing. How to make a magnifying glass. Newton's cradle. Make a mode... (read more)

arfle120

Bad weather, as in 'rain that rots your crops and causes famine', 'wind that takes the roof off your house', 'blizzards that kill your livestock', etc...

I suspect that 300 days of sleet might have an effect, even now.

arfle40

I've also had this done, but my GP used warm water. No ill effects whatsoever. Obviously my hearing improved.

-1ChristianKl
Is there anything specific about your case, or is the same procedure likely to help a lot of people to improve their hearing?
simplicio130

Obviously my hearing improved.

And more importantly, you admit it!

arfle00

Doesn't Newtonian gravity require computation over an infinite number of steps?

arfle00

But the child has good evidence for the social concept, if not for the genetic one.

So he can disagree with "there is no such thing as race".

Is this another one of those blegg/rube questions?

arfle160

As a rural sort, I'd like to make the point that the full moon is bright enough to read by, and to see some colours.

Townies think the night is dark because they're dazzled by street lights and cars and never have working night vision.

In the absence of artificial light, it only gets truly dark when you can't see the moon or sun.

And even where I grew up, there was always enough light in the sky that the galaxy was difficult to see. Go somewhere truly out of the way and it's like a shining belt all across the sky. That's what real human night vision is like.

F... (read more)

1PhilGoetz
I suppose, since this got 5 upvotes, that it isn't just a random non-sequitur. But it looks like one to me.