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Too Clever by Half

epsilontheory.com

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Re: Too Clever by Half

#251

Post by pvaldes »

Kiro wrote: post #36
vpontis wrote: post #14

I really enjoyed this article. Summary Coyotes are too clever because they know that people shaking jars full of coins can’t hurt them. Thus the animal control patrol has to get called and when they don’t shoo, the animal control person who loves animals has to shoot the coyote. Coyotes are winning the mini-game of each human interaction, but they are losing the meta-game of what society will do if coyotes aren’t sca…

I also realized this which made me game the whole schooling system. I didn't study and had a poor attendance but still got an award for the being the school's best student. Pretty crazy when I think about it. Suffice to say, my strategy didn't work very well in university.

Yup, the classical the teacher's revenge. Let him go away as fast as we can.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#252

Post by [deleted] »

80386 wrote: post #43

When I was in school, there were the people who seemed smart and the people who seemed like they worked hard. The people who seemed smart won the minigames. They got good grades with little effort. But somehow, they ended up with no institutional support -- in fact, the school hated them. Eventually one of the teachers (who was visibly insecure about her own intelligence and competence) cooked up a nonsense pretext t…

[deleted]

Re: Too Clever by Half

#253

Post by dibujante »

Retra wrote: post #239
dibujante wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, maybe. I attended all of my courses because that got me straight-As in high school. I was then blindsided by needing to study for anything ever. So I was engaged, as far as I knew - but I didn't know how unengaged I was.

This is why I think people need to work and grow up a bit between high school and university. Figure out why you want to go before you commit to it. I was in the military for 4 years between them (and I was not a good student before), but I decided to go to university specifically to learn something that interested me. And it was sad seeing my peers waste their time doing the same stupid crap I'd outgrown and become…

Yep, totally agreed. I would have benefited from a gap year or four.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#254

Post by acjohnson55 »

jacobolus wrote: post #235
acjohnson55 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been both a teacher and a student who chafed under the rules, I'd suggest that it's not quite that stark. The rule makers are people trying to maintain a learning environment that works for everybody under their care to make progress. You have to make split-second decisions to keep the dynamic productive, and there's not a lot of margin for error. In a perfect world, you'd have time to negotiate solutions with…

There are many amazing teachers and school administrators, and many who are just muddling through doing their best every day. There are also some sadistic jerks, and some who are incredibly bad at communication and problem solving and controlling their own emotions, especially among the lower levels of the administrative staff. I can understand that dealing with scores of angsty teenagers every day, and especially ge…

For sure. There's no defending the sadists out there. I just think that even if we got rid of them, we'd still have a lot of issues.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#256

Post by opinionator1 »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #66
solotronics wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you keep a dog from straying into the wild and getting injured? These are pets and not wild animals able to survive in the bush on their own.

Are you saying that most people who have dogs in farms use invisible wires to keep them safe? Because I'm in the position to know that this is not the case. My partner's father has a farm with animals, including dogs. The farm has a fence and the dogs can roam freely inside it.

Anecdotes are not data. I know plenty of farms that do use invisible fences. Dogs have a habit of digging under fences when determined.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#257

Post by mykull »

internetman55 wrote: post #248
80386 wrote: post #43

When I was in school, there were the people who seemed smart and the people who seemed like they worked hard. The people who seemed smart won the minigames. They got good grades with little effort. But somehow, they ended up with no institutional support -- in fact, the school hated them. Eventually one of the teachers (who was visibly insecure about her own intelligence and competence) cooked up a nonsense pretext t…

People hate their superiors unfortunately. This is why I think rich/high IQ parents need to put their kids around other rich/high IQ kids: proles/low IQs will tear your children apart out of jealousy, possibly leading to mental disorders and drug addictions

You're assuming rich and high IQ go together. We don't live in a meritocratic society and as such, that's not true.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#258

Post by mykull »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #183
justherefortart wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The modern world works well for whom? Laughable.

When would you rather be alive? There are tons of problems with the world today and many that we can fix but aren't. But the idea that things are worse now than before is just not true.

The idea that our measurement of progress only needs to be binary (did we or didn't we progress?) shows indifference to the endless problems yet unsolved. Better than yesteryear doesn't mean good enough. Far from it.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#259

Post by mykull »

r4unwud wrote: post #6

It's really sad to see this article about animal abuse on the front page of HN.

Oh but regular collars must be animal abuse too, then, because tugging on a creatures neck is not pleasant. As well as not providing a square mile play area with ideal humidity and temperature and lots of fun toys.

Re: Too Clever by Half

#260

Post by jeffreyrogers »

mykull wrote: post #258
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When would you rather be alive? There are tons of problems with the world today and many that we can fix but aren't. But the idea that things are worse now than before is just not true.

The idea that our measurement of progress only needs to be binary (did we or didn't we progress?) shows indifference to the endless problems yet unsolved. Better than yesteryear doesn't mean good enough. Far from it.

I don't view progress as binary. That some things are worse now than in the past is a banal and uninteresting point, but it's clear that the world is much better now than it was even 50 years ago for the average person by virtually any metric that matters: number of people living in poverty, childhood mortality, life expectancy, chances of being persecuted for your religion, race, or sexual orientation. The list goes on.

There are obviously tons of problems still but the improvements that have been made are vast. I get that we still have a lot of progress to make, but the cynicism of the person I was replying to is inappropriate when you look at the facts.

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