• Adages,  rationalism

    The relativity of wrong

    A perfect essay by Asimov on the right way to view the world

    Another way of looking at it is to ask what is the “curvature” of the earth’s surface Over a considerable length, how much does the surface deviate (on the average) from perfect flatness. The flat-earth theory would make it seem that the surface doesn’t deviate from flatness at all, that its curvature is 0 to the mile.

    Nowadays, of course, we are taught that the flat-earth theory is wrong; that it is all wrong, terribly wrong, absolutely. But it isn’t. The curvature of the earth is nearly 0 per mile, so that although the flat-earth theory is wrong, it happens to be nearly right. That’s why the theory lasted so long.

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  • Uncategorized

    Overheard at drop-off

    At the sight of kids holding up signs advertising their pancake breakfast fundraiser at the school.

    Marleigh:

    Daddy – don’t worry – they might look like homeless people but they’re actually just fifth-graders with signs

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  • SSC Atlanta,  Uncategorized

    Tankies sacrifice Jeffrey Epstein to the Aztec Sun God and unleash weaponized feminism – the 13th SSC Atlanta meetup

    We had our monthly SSC Atlanta at the usual spot – topics included

    • Tankies – evidently there are enough modern day defenders of Stalin/Lenin/Bolshevism to merit their own derogatory nickname
    • Jeffrey Epstein – and the many, many conspiracy theories surrounding his demise
    • Reasonable seeming things at the time and place (i.e. the religion of the Aztecs)

    Many more things were discussed – but I lost my notes and I can’t recall them specifically right now.

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  • Uncategorized

    Decision making under probability

    An interesting notion arose from this Hacker News comment thread about the life and legacy of John von Neumann – specifically the contrast between decision making under certainty (i.e. hindsight) vs decision making under probability. The topic in question was pre-emptive war with the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After thinking about it for a while I came to the horrible realization that it wasn’t the worst idea in the world. bit actually something of a close call.

    I’m left being even more grateful for the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. The 20th century was a scary time.

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