I’m a very open minded guy. If there is some object, X, and somebody can take two Xs and then two more Xs, and count them, and they come out to five Xs, well, Bob’s your uncle.
The whole part about the woke teachers doing this just to own the “other team” draws parallels to the Malthusian Greens and their desire to starve humanity of cheap and reliable energy.
Like the woke, they play the same game placing high priority on groups they see as victims and marginalized.
+1 on forest green. Is that the same as Hunter green to you? I see those two and loden as all being the same color, and yes it’s wonderful. Similarly British racing green, the only color for Jaguars. https://images.app.goo.gl/kSkJy2TVRpfwFu7G7
THEY. ARE. NIHILISTS. They loath truth (and beauty, and innocence, and integrity, and industriousness, and buildings that don't fall over, ad fininitum). The want chaos, and the destruction of civilization. This is the parsimonious, sine qua non, explanation for why they do and say what they do. There is no deeper, more complicated reason.
I used to joke that 2+2=5 for large values of 2 (and I could "prove" it using excel where I had 2 cells of value 2.4 but set to round to 1 digit and the sum likewise)
But it's no longer funny. Arguably it never was, but it amused me and a few other people I know.
I agree the 2+2=5 crowd are in fact actively hurting the people they claim to be helping, but it isn't mathematics per se, it's basic arithmetic (sums). Learning basic arithmetic and maybe even slightly more complicated things like multiplication tables up to 12x12 or so and estimation and approximation stops people from being defrauded or conned out of money they often cannot afford to lose.
Mind you it isn't always intentional, but I've had numerous occasions where I've queried the bill at a supermarket or restaurant and discovered that they made a mistake or a cashier has given me the wrong change. If I weren't able to basic addition and subtraction and to have a feel for roughly what the sum should be I couldn't do that. Mostly of course it's only a dollar or two (or equivalent in other currencies) but a couple of times its been significantly more.
I couldn't agree more. 2+2=4 is true because we define the numbers 2 and 4 and the operators + and = in a certain way. This isn't a matter of Scientific Truth, it's a definition of terms. When the people try to attack 2+2=4, giving various cases where (2 somethings) (plus-like operator) (2 somethings) (equals -like operator) (some arbitrary value that's not (4 somethings), they are changing the terms. We only know it's interesting that 2 oz. of water when added to 2 oz. of ethanol yields less than 2 oz. of clear liquid because you know 2+2=4 and that there must be a change in the terms here. Not all clear liquids are the same and adding different liquids yields different results. If we didn't know 2+2=4, we wouldn't even be looking for the underlying reality that's interesting there.
> why the 2 + 2 = 5 brigade still enrages me
"Evil" + "Insanity" + "A Burning Desire to Make You Comply" seems like a reasonable enough answer.
I’m a very open minded guy. If there is some object, X, and somebody can take two Xs and then two more Xs, and count them, and they come out to five Xs, well, Bob’s your uncle.
The whole part about the woke teachers doing this just to own the “other team” draws parallels to the Malthusian Greens and their desire to starve humanity of cheap and reliable energy.
Like the woke, they play the same game placing high priority on groups they see as victims and marginalized.
+1 on forest green. Is that the same as Hunter green to you? I see those two and loden as all being the same color, and yes it’s wonderful. Similarly British racing green, the only color for Jaguars. https://images.app.goo.gl/kSkJy2TVRpfwFu7G7
Great piece - really interesting. Thanks for the forthright approach
THEY. ARE. NIHILISTS. They loath truth (and beauty, and innocence, and integrity, and industriousness, and buildings that don't fall over, ad fininitum). The want chaos, and the destruction of civilization. This is the parsimonious, sine qua non, explanation for why they do and say what they do. There is no deeper, more complicated reason.
I used to joke that 2+2=5 for large values of 2 (and I could "prove" it using excel where I had 2 cells of value 2.4 but set to round to 1 digit and the sum likewise)
But it's no longer funny. Arguably it never was, but it amused me and a few other people I know.
I agree the 2+2=5 crowd are in fact actively hurting the people they claim to be helping, but it isn't mathematics per se, it's basic arithmetic (sums). Learning basic arithmetic and maybe even slightly more complicated things like multiplication tables up to 12x12 or so and estimation and approximation stops people from being defrauded or conned out of money they often cannot afford to lose.
Mind you it isn't always intentional, but I've had numerous occasions where I've queried the bill at a supermarket or restaurant and discovered that they made a mistake or a cashier has given me the wrong change. If I weren't able to basic addition and subtraction and to have a feel for roughly what the sum should be I couldn't do that. Mostly of course it's only a dollar or two (or equivalent in other currencies) but a couple of times its been significantly more.
I couldn't agree more. 2+2=4 is true because we define the numbers 2 and 4 and the operators + and = in a certain way. This isn't a matter of Scientific Truth, it's a definition of terms. When the people try to attack 2+2=4, giving various cases where (2 somethings) (plus-like operator) (2 somethings) (equals -like operator) (some arbitrary value that's not (4 somethings), they are changing the terms. We only know it's interesting that 2 oz. of water when added to 2 oz. of ethanol yields less than 2 oz. of clear liquid because you know 2+2=4 and that there must be a change in the terms here. Not all clear liquids are the same and adding different liquids yields different results. If we didn't know 2+2=4, we wouldn't even be looking for the underlying reality that's interesting there.