Looks like we are gone too far already...when we have "professors of rhetoric and argument" I joke not, that is his/her/its title. But Milo soon sorted it. RS
I don't see an issue with changing the name but I don't feel they made these tissues for runny noses. Kleenex know whats up. That's probably why they are man size.
I thought that was funny, even if IIR didn't. Rhetoric, philosophy, logic, ethics - these are now apparently all namby-pamby modern neo-marxist liberal values (that were invented by the Ancient Greeks). On the other hand, you could say that remainers have forgotten democracy and stoicism. It all evens out. We're all fine for cynicism** though. Give it another generation and we'll be mocking the other Greek contributions to thought. Trigonometry will the denial of school shootings. Geometry will become FlatEarthology. * Gods! I hate that term. ** I'm well aware that the cynics weren't actually cynical thankyouverymuch, but both sides probably want to claim skepticism and I couldn't think of another Greek philosophy/branch of philosophy that wouldn't look weird. Epicurianism (spelling?)? I don't really know what epicurianism means. Something to do with fine food? Epistemology? That sounds like a disease.
What term? There is no single star in your text. How about Pythagorus? As I recall his followers believed in the sanctity of whole numbers. When one of them suggested fractions had a role in life he was driven out of the community and killed himself. An unwavering belief in a perfectly neat solution to all problems and driving out those who suggest that partial answers should be driven from society sermd familiar. A useful metaphor for either side of the Brexit furore? It might have been Euclid.
As a self employed artisan I can sympathise with that, a whole days money for a half days work, what's not to like? I'm with Pythagorus on this one, I can't be doing with fractions.
Apparently I've had a post removed for inappropriate laungauage. ????? I can't for the life of me see how Ajax is inappropriate. ???
As I recall (my recollection may not be 100% correct but is makes for a good story) , Pythagoras's cult had fights with other mathematicians. They were quite brutal, like mods and rockers knifing each on Brighton pier or the gangsters in Greene's Brighton Rock (also a fine example of frantic banging and string twanging - linky). Anyway, these street fights were over the principle of zero. You see the Pythagorean lot were fixed on integers. They saw integers, especially in the form of a[sup]2[/sup] + b^2 = c^2 as divine, the blueprint for the universe. Like a good kitchen fitter knows 3,4,5 reassures us that all is well in the world. The idea was that things in the world have attributes such as colour, but not everything has colour. The same for smell, taste, weight and so on. The one universal attributes that belongs to everything is number. Since everything comes as a thing (ie counting each item) then the gods must work in integers. So when other mathematicians proposed starting at zero life got awkard. Until then people stared counting at 1, but as Euclid showed circular geometry is tricky without zero, how can you define the centre of a sphere without zero? This raised the possibility that the world was not built on integers, if 1 was not the basic building bloc of life then they would have devoted their lives to nothing (pun intended). In short they were stuffed. Their temples and meeting rooms were burnt down, they were persecuted and forced to flee. So what they tell you at school is wrong. Nothing is a matter of life and death. ps - I must also correct my earlier post. It was Hippasus who got excited about fractions due to the square root of 2. Pythagoras took him on a boat trip and drowned him. Did it himself. Makes Putin seem quite tame.
Arr. The pythagorean sect had built a religion on whether numbers can always be expressed as a ratio (ie rational). It can be seen why root 2 was heresy. Not only is nothing a matter of life and death, but who dies is also irrational decision? Numbers as religion? What a strange and primitive idea! Also an accurate description of economics.
If only they counted logarithmicly then it would have been a happy ending with some lovely ratios. I do like root 2, it's one of those things in life that feels right.
It’s true that if the ancient Greeks had written their numbers in logs to the base 2, then root 2 would be written as a rational. It’d would work until someone asked how to write the number “3” - then ooops, it’s drowning time again!
I was thinking log E. However it occurs to me that we could have had Pythagorus sequences to resolve the golden ratio using integers, which would have been a lot easier to spell than Finebaji, and saved poor Hippasus.
Filly tried that last night and has appeared to have taken a holiday, I did screenshot his comments in case the post got deleted, which it appears to have done.
The "I'm not a racist defence" has been laid to rest. One by one the "us" are admitting that actually they are bigots.