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I agree: to me this is like a car giving you driving directions by saying "turn north" instead of "turn left"; there are people who legitimately find either way

by saurik 6y ago

I agree: to me this is like a car giving you driving directions by saying "turn north" instead of "turn left"; there are people who legitimately find either way to be easier, and if you give them the wrong way they are just going to have to convert it... I find absolutely dates and times to be super intuitive, and I have most of my life laid out in my head with absolute dates, and find relative dates and times to be infuriating. This is the kind of thing that should just always be a setting.

deleted 6y ago
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jeddy3 6y ago
Isn't your analogy flipped the other way around? "North" is technically correct but an absolute reference, just like a date. While "Left" is relative just like "two hours ago" With the relative reference you don't need to know which direction you are heading, or what time it is right now.
- eesmith 6y ago
  On a tangent, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guugu_Yimithirr_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guugu_Yimithirr_language "The language is notable for its use of pure geographic directions (north, south, east, west) rather than egocentric directions (left, right, forward, backward),[7] though such "purity" is disputed.[8] Still, it has given its speakers a remarkable sense of direction."
  - saurik 6y ago
    This isn't actually a tangent, and is a reason I knew there were people who prefer absolute direction.
    - eesmith 6y ago
      I think of it as a tangent because for the people I pointed to it's not a preference. It's not "easier" but rather, there is no other option but absolute directions. On another tangent, there are some fields which use relative date almost exclusively, like Ma used in paleontology and geology - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year#SI_prefix_multipliers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year#SI_prefix_multipliers and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myr . And "BP" is used in archeology and some other fields as a date before 1950 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present .
- saurik 6y ago
  It was a demonstration of the premise of relative vs. absolute, not an attempt to argue that one is somehow more obvious and should be considered better to everyone (which I disagree with).

by saurik 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jeddy3 6y ago

Isn't your analogy flipped the other way around? "North" is technically correct but an absolute reference, just like a date. While "Left" is relative just like "two hours ago" With the relative reference you don't need to know which direction you are heading, or what time it is right now.

eesmith 6y ago
On a tangent, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guugu_Yimithirr_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guugu_Yimithirr_language "The language is notable for its use of pure geographic directions (north, south, east, west) rather than egocentric directions (left, right, forward, backward),[7] though such "purity" is disputed.[8] Still, it has given its speakers a remarkable sense of direction."
- saurik 6y ago
  This isn't actually a tangent, and is a reason I knew there were people who prefer absolute direction.
  - eesmith 6y ago
    I think of it as a tangent because for the people I pointed to it's not a preference. It's not "easier" but rather, there is no other option but absolute directions. On another tangent, there are some fields which use relative date almost exclusively, like Ma used in paleontology and geology - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year#SI_prefix_multipliers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year#SI_prefix_multipliers and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myr . And "BP" is used in archeology and some other fields as a date before 1950 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present .
saurik 6y ago
It was a demonstration of the premise of relative vs. absolute, not an attempt to argue that one is somehow more obvious and should be considered better to everyone (which I disagree with).