121–125 of 125 posts
Similarly, we used to have to wonder about simple facts. Now though simple facts are at our finger tips leaving us to move directly to the deeper more interesting topics.
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Language is a wonderful, complex, irritating thing. The same words in the same language meaning two different, completely context-sensitive things. The same word being used in completely different ways. Not being able to describe the use of a word without long, protracted arguments giving multiple examples of the usage. Even in the same county, the same language is used differently based on geographical region. It am…
I'm actually pretty surprised about the curry thing. Here in the UK we get so much US media (films and TV) that I feel like I have a fairly good grasp of what they have in America. Not having curry has shocked me though.
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> But I wish I could accurately tell when that's the person's goal, versus whether it's a person who actually finds solving real problems more fun than talking, like I do. I think you're still missing it. Have you never enjoyed a movie with a surprise ending (as the GP pointed out)? Would it have been just as fun if someone had given you a 30-second summary of the plot? What about working out puzzles, brain-teasers,…
I think there may be a generation gap. Most older people I know don't even think to look it up. Many younger people instinctively look it up I'm not denying it can be fun to debate and guess but there are plenty of times it just better to look it up and then move on to deeper more meaningful conversation
I know taking issue with Einstien is not a good idea - but I'll do it anyway. Learning - and putting as much relevent material in your working memory is beneficial to seeing the bigger picture and quick informed decisions. A collection of one line facts (what you get when you look something up) does not make wisdom. Sure, most of us have extremely small working memories, but it does not negate the benefit for learnin…
Feynman makes a good point when he's describing why he isn't a genius. Someone shows him a blueprint and he just happens to know X because (I can't remember, something he did last week) and that's such a little thing, but everyone is "wow!" and then someone else asks him a question and really, Y is the obvious answer because square root Z is (something something something) and everyone says "wow". It ends up that Fey…
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You should probably have used an example where you weren't smugly wrong, it WAS true at one point.
McDonald's once having partial ownership in Chipoltle like a decade ago is nothing like "McDonald's owns Chipoltle" ... But maybe you had to be there.
Majority ownership a decade ago, at least. It's obviously not currently true, but not as much of a slam dunk example as it could be :p