Encountering it now, I think your followup article "Does it matter if the sum of all integers is -1/12?" makes an excellent case for why it does in fact matter

Encountering it now, I think your followup article "Does it matter if the sum of all integers is -1/12?" makes an excellent case for why it does in fact matter a lot: The fact that the unsound reasoning in this particular case led to a conclusion that superficially resembles a conclusion that can also be arrived at by sound reasoning just makes it that much worse. It encourages people to think: because this mode of reasoning led to a "correct" conclusion in that case, then it will probably lead to correct conclusions in other cases. If the problem were confined to mathematics I might not make such a big deal out of it, but it's not. The problem of people uncritically accepting conclusions drawn by unsound methods of reasoning pervades our society and causes real damage. http://blog.rongarret.info/2014/01/does-it-matter-if-sum-of-all-integers.html http://blog.rongarret.info/2014/01/does-it-matter-if-sum-of-...