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Computer Science has done me bad

By LodeRunner (Mon Jul 16, 2007 at 10:34:35 PM EST) highly illogical (all tags)

College changes people in many ways, but one of its side effects on me was a bit unexpected.

In a discussion on any topic, whenever something logically equivalent to the following happens:

Me: A implies B.
Someone: Ahhh, then you're telling C implies D!

...and there are no other premises connecting these two, I can't help from going "grrrrr!!!!" inside. I always have to step back, take a deep breath and count to five in my head (figuratively of course, but you know what I mean).

Maybe I should think that's actually a good thing, since now I have an instant indicator that from that point on my interlocutor should not be taken seriously.

And to think that the event that prompted this post was a conversation about football/soccer...

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Computer Science has done me bad | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Heathen! by ReallyEvilCanine (4.00 / 3) #1 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 06:36:03 AM EST

Clearly you didn't attend a True Christian Institute of Learning. I understand a degree from one of those places opens more doors than a certificate from DeVry.

So when you say by greyrat (4.00 / 1) #2 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 07:41:48 AM EST

"College changes people in many ways"

You're really saying that you don't believe in the FSM. Right?
~
There is absolutely no correlation or causation amongst intelligence, power, talent and wealth.
Kha-Nyou

: It's not what I was thinking about in particular, by LodeRunner (2.00 / 0) #5 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 12:52:39 PM EST

but yes, that too.

[ Parent ]
: dude, by garlic (4.00 / 1) #7 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 10:26:35 PM EST

A CS degree without at least mentioning the existance of the Finite State Machines is not a good education.

[ Parent ]

Didn't they teach you that one? by mrgoat (4.00 / 2) #3 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 11:33:00 AM EST

A=>B therefore C=>D (when neither A nor B have anything to do with C or D) is known as Modus Bullshitens. It's used most often in proofs by handwaving, a well-known logic form most often used in the field of Rhetoricolology...ism.

Years pass, things change, you end up living in Kansas. But the bag of dicks never leaves your side... - blixco
--top hat--

People aren't rational by yicky yacky (4.00 / 1) #4 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 12:32:38 PM EST

Make your peace with that now. It'll only get worse. You had to learn how to reason; there are millions of people more educated than you who could find something which they know that you don't. Same thing.

A few months ago, I got so irritated with the fallacies asserted portentously in a football commentary that I decided to make a note of every one which occurred during the following week's match and write it up afterwards. I gave up at seventeen minutes. There were far too many and life's too short.

----
Done.

I'm making progress by LodeRunner (2.00 / 0) #6 Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 01:10:34 PM EST

A few years ago I would go crazy and try to show the other person the invalidity of their argument. What a fool. Whenever you say "ok, even if what you're claiming is true, it just can't be for the reasons you're saying!" all that people hear is "You're wrong!".

I think I've always been a bit like that; friends often tell me I'm a hard person to convince in an argument, but once they make a point that "made sense", I never felt embarassed to just change my mind instantly (admittedly, this drives some people nuts, when they're having fun with the argument and I just go "Ah, I see now. You're right." and they're all "wait-wait-wait")

Studying logic just made the patterns painfully clear. When people bullshit in an argument with a false statement, it's just a matter of "okay, that's not true", but fallacies feel like cheating. I don't really think they're believing what they're saying, they're just trying to turn the conversation into a game which they're cheating to win. And that's just low.

[ Parent ]

: insightful! by codemonkey uk (4.00 / 1) #8 Wed Jul 18, 2007 at 05:28:18 AM EST

There is a guy who I work with, who has a Doctorate in Robotics, and almost everything he posts on the company forums is swimming in a sea fallacies. It drives me mental, and since he is a Linux advocate, every time I point out the insanity of his arguments he turns it into some kind of adhomium attack by making out I'm a Microsoft fanboy.

--- Thad ---
developer of ... ?
[ Parent ]

Computer Science has done me bad | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

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