It is therefore of GREAT SOCIAL VALUE for educators to talk about circumstances in which "2 + 2 = 5" might be true, and of NO SOCIAL VALUE to go on angry Ayn Rand rants about how people who deny eternal verities like "2 + 2 = 4" are heretics and anathema
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Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof
How utterly irrelevant Ayn Rand is here, and your discussion of educators/ education is a continued deflection. You’re still deflecting. Why?
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Replying to @Aya62335284 @perdricof
I'm not deflecting, this is the topic at hand You are arguing against a ridiculous strawman and acting like the people who want to advance human understanding are somehow the ones delaying it
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Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof
Become a street vendor and start arguing for that degree of rounding. See how it goes.
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Replying to @Aya62335284 @perdricof
If I do not have access to a measurement tool with the degree of precision I want, and I am forced to compromise based on estimates (a common outcome in street vending, depending on the street), there are many situations where the 2+2 = 5 result is the fairer one
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You get that, right Do you understand I'm talking about a completely commonsense, real-life problem here That there are plenty of situations where dogmatically saying 2+2 = 4 is a way for me to cheat you
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Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof
If an architect and a construction worker have different understandings of 2 and 4 that leads inevitably to bad things.
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Replying to @Aya62335284 @perdricof
Yes, which is why it's important to actually discuss these things and think about them rather than blithely assuming them!
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Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof
And it’s important to begin with shared definitions rather than oscillate between exaggerated hypotheticals of excessive rounding and semiotics to continue to resist in various ways the still very basic point that it’s good that we’re on the same page as to what 2 and 4 mean.
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Replying to @Aya62335284 @perdricof
You're using the word "semiotics" incorrectly, and "excessive rounding" is a silly thing to say It's not some kind of personal aesthetic decision, you understand, you MUST round based on how many significant digits of precision you have (which often isn't in your control)
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The really funny thing is it's really clear you're the one who sees this as some kind of abstract philosophical flag you need to plant and that you probably don't think about the practical problems of communicating with numbers in your line of work at all
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