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Mandela was right: the Foreign Language Effect

mappingignorance.org

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Re: Mandela was right: the Foreign Language Effect

#3
Not really relevant to the point of the article, but worth mentioning:

The article's commentary on the _Asian Disease_ problem which states "the number of certain deaths is the same in both versions of the problem.." is incorrect. In case A, the number of certain deaths is 400,000, in case B it's 0.

Or am I reading it incorrectly ?

Re: Mandela was right: the Foreign Language Effect

#4
post #2

Mandela was a terrorist. What's next, 'Hitler was right'?

Release that anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Suffering leads to dark side. Dark side has cookies. Cookies lead to weight gain. Weight gain leads to unhappiness.

Therefore anger leads to unhappiness. Trust me I'm a doctor[0].

[0] not really, but you should still trust me.

Re: Mandela was right: the Foreign Language Effect

#5
post #3

Not really relevant to the point of the article, but worth mentioning: The article's commentary on the _Asian Disease_ problem which states "the number of certain deaths is the same in both versions of the problem.." is incorrect. In case A, the number of certain deaths is 400,000, in case B it's 0. Or am I reading it incorrectly ?

You are correct, it's the expected number that is the same.

Re: Mandela was right: the Foreign Language Effect

#7
post #3

Not really relevant to the point of the article, but worth mentioning: The article's commentary on the _Asian Disease_ problem which states "the number of certain deaths is the same in both versions of the problem.." is incorrect. In case A, the number of certain deaths is 400,000, in case B it's 0. Or am I reading it incorrectly ?

You are correct, it's the expected number that is the same.

As I understand it, there is not enough information to determine the expected number of deaths. In the first situation, the expected number of deaths of choosing medicine A must be greater than or equal to 400k and in the second situation (again choosing medicine A) the expected number of deaths must be less than or equal to 400k.

My interpretation was that in the first situation, there is a possibility that everyone dies if you choose medicine A, therefore B was the right choice. Similarly, in the second situation, there is a possibility that everyone lives if you choose medicine A, therefore A was the right choice. Maybe I'm misunderstanding but there does not appear to be enough information in the question to determine the exact probabilities.

Re: Mandela was right: the Foreign Language Effect

#9
post #2

Mandela was a terrorist. What's next, 'Hitler was right'?

Release that anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Suffering leads to dark side. Dark side has cookies. Cookies lead to weight gain. Weight gain leads to unhappiness. Therefore anger leads to unhappiness. Trust me I'm a doctor[0]. [0] not really, but you should still trust me.

Cookies? I thought the dark side had pie.

I was told there'd be pie.

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