3 ms·

I was going to say that Poe's law existed even back then, but apparently it was coined by a different Poe in 2005.

• vvguifyjf 5y ago
  Machinery tends to be used to "refine" raw materials. Rough timber is transformed into precisely dimensioned planks, for example. So it's not unreasonable to ask whether a machine for producing numerical data can operate with crude and inaccurate raw materials (inputs). Consider: The "regula falsi" approach to solving equations in one unknown actually involves a guessed, "false" input. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regula_falsi#The_regula_falsi_(false_position)_method https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regula_falsi#The_regula_fals... Robert Recorde wrote: Gesse at this woorke as happe doth leade. By chaunce to truthe you may procede. And firste woorke by the question, Although no truthe therein be don. Suche falsehode is so good a grounde, That truth by it will soone be founde. From many bate to many mo, From to fewe take to fewe also. With to much ioyne to fewe againe, To to fewe adde to manye plaine. In crossewaies multiplye contrary kinde, All truthe by falsehode for to fynde. Now, somebody on HN ("wzdd") has previously tried to defend Babbage, on more than one occasion (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29605135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29605135), saying that he wasn't mystified by the misunderstanding, but instead was making some kind of joke at his own expense (not a snide comment at the expense of the questioner.) I'm far from convinced. It seems to me that we shouldn't be celebrating this mean-spirited passage from Babbage's writing.