Mathematical thinking

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billvon said:
I am starting to think that perhaps he does not mean what he says.
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This is from the bleachers, is it?

I'm starting to think I should forget how many times I've seen that one. It's a typical response of the science forum poster in their natural habitat.
 
I get the feeling this guy is just another sock puppet.
 
Pinball1970 said:
Just ask a question, a focused question on something you are really interested in and the thread will be fruitful possibly.
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Yeah. And I'll be back on Santa's list, right?

A question then; does anyone here know what an interval poset is? Do they know how to explain it or how simple it is to do that?
Or is everyone agreed that math is hard, so, forget about it.

Like how they've forgotten their lines in this, ah, production.
 
(Q) said:
I get the feeling this guy is just another sock puppet.
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Well, I also get that feeling about all the guys here. In that, nobody is "being who they are", hence all posters are sock-puppets of their "true" selves. That is, assuming they have such a thing.
 
Science forums are supposed to be about discussion of science subjects, not opinions of other posters.
This site gets dragged into those weeds by the crowd. The crowd is bored, it wants to see some action.

It wants to go wild. Why hasn't anyone killed anything yet?

If you think that's a joke, it sort of is. And it's an accurate depiction of human behaviour when they group together and look for a common cause. This is generally framed as "what are we hunting?".

Does anyone here know what anthropology is, or why anyone would bother studying it?
 
Kid Anymore said:
So, are you? Really? I see a silhuetto of a man.
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I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening! Eek!
Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro, magnifico
But I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
 
I predicted that my responses would elicit the usual childish behavior that anyone can now see here.

So that, it's obvious. Rational adult discussion is a myth.
We hunt this beast but all we do is harass it, make strange noises and try to scare it. Children use this tactic to attempt to either drive adults crazy or convince them they already are.

It's behavior but is it adaptive?
Is it worth the attempt to discuss even this now that the kids have made their intentions clear?
Children, please!
 
Kid Anymore said:
I predicted that my responses would elicit the usual childish behavior that anyone can now see here.
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I merely asked you, as other posters suggested, to be specific, not blog, not meander and ask a question. One at a time preferably and if they are completely unrelated say like mathematics and anthropology, do separate threads.
 
Pinball1970 said:
I merely asked you, as other posters suggested, to be specific, not blog, not meander and ask a question.
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I did post a specific question. But you aren't after that at all. You aren't interested in learning anything other than how to look relevant.

Do you think you are, do you look relevant? What is the relevance of saying I should post something specific, a question, then you not answering it and doing something else? You wanted to do the something else, and not answer a question.

I gotcha
 
Kid Anymore said:
I did post a specific question. But you aren't after that at all. You aren't interested in learning anything other than how to look relevant.

Do you think you are, do you look relevant? What is the relevance of saying I should post something specific, a question, then you not answering it and doing something else? You wanted to do the something else, and not answer a question.

I gotcha
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I just answered.
 
Kid Anymore said:
I predicted that my responses would elicit the usual childish behavior that anyone can now see here.

So that, it's obvious. Rational adult discussion is a myth.
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Look, Kid Anymore, without an once of animosity: You have reaped exactly what you sowed. You came here with an obvious attitude we have all seen before - not just online but in our lives. It does not play well. Nobody is fooled.

There are aspects of
- 'I'm just joking - unless I'm not' (a form of waffling that lets one pick which way one wants to their intent to break)
- 'the best defense is a good offense' (if I come on strong, every one will think I'm smart - except it has the opposite effect)
- 'it's every one else's fault but mine'. (It's easy to keep an accusation of childish behaviour loaded in one's gun at all times, ready to fire. The trick is to not be that of which you accuse others.)

Comments such as these are dreadfully condescending:
"News arrives that it's time for a break. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em, boys."
"Sit back and relax. It's time to learn."
"You aren't interested in learning anything other than how to look relevant."
"I predicted that..."
"... the usual childish behavior..."
"Another one bites the dust. When does the 3:10 to Yuma arrive?"
"... now that the kids have made their intentions clear"
"Children, please!"

What I am reading here is someone who is mad that we didn't all goggle our eyes at your obvious brilliance. The hostility is a way of saving face.

Sorry, this arsenal of tricks may seem like you invented them yourself and that they are opaque - but they are transparent to us. Everyone goes through the phase of thinking they invented mind games, and everyone knows people who used to play them - it's just a question of when you let them go.

I hate to armchair psycho-analyze, but you're kind of begging for it, now that you're blaming everyone else that this didn't go your way.

(Q)'s and foghorn's (below) comments are very insightful. People who arrive at a site and immediately assume they are on the top of the heap (and that there is a heap in the first place) are almost invariably sock puppets of former members. They know what to expect from what they have seen before, and don't waste time getting to brass tacks (insulting long time members as often as possible).

Whether true or not, that is how you are coming across. Is that the message you intended to send?
 
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DaveC426913 said:
Comments such as these are dreadfully condescending:
"News arrives that it's time for a break. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em, boys."
"Sit back and relax. It's time to learn."
"You aren't interested in learning anything other than how to look relevant."
"I predicted that..."
"... the usual childish behavior..."
"Another one bites the dust. When does the 3:10 to Yuma arrive?"
"... now that the kids have made their intentions clear"
"Children, please!"
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Look wannabe Camp Mother.

Don't troll me by accusing me of being condescending. Dreadfully??
Where do you get your permission to condescend from? Why do you think you can post that and say it's relevant?
Because it's relevant to the old woman narrative here. And you've joined it. Now you're posting like one.
 
DaveC426913 said:
foghorn's comment is very insightful. People who arrive at a site and immediately assume they are on the top of the heap (and that there is a heap in the first place) are almost invariably sock puppets of former members. They know what to expect from what they have seen before, and don't waste time getting to brass tacks (insulting long time members as often as possible).
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It's how I'm coming across to the pool of secretaries in the lunch room, as I sit alone with my coffee and tray.

I suppose I'm obliged, in your story, to apologise for upsetting the old women.
I came here with honest questions. Perhaps I seemed, to you, to be a bit arrogant, because I sat a test and got a high score on some IQ scale. You didn't, maybe.

Or that's what the tournament is about--who is intelligent and is it intelligent to claim that you are? I didn't, a test did. I didn't volunteer, I was told I would be sitting a test. Ok?
Otherwise I think I've tried to encourage discussion about learning. This site doesn't do that.
It used to, I've gone into the archives and there was genuine discussion, honest self-appraisal of the level of understanding. That's 5 or 6 years ago.

It's a thing now that seems to have morphed into something else. There is an ongoing dispute. It's like watching Judge Judy.
 
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