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I support reading, but it's far more important to learn how to distinguish truth from fiction than it is to read a lot. Ironically, that's the one thing that it

I support reading, but it's far more important to learn how to distinguish truth from fiction than it is to read a lot. Ironically, that's the one thing that it's quite difficult to learn from reading. You can see it easily on this site where there are so many people who can argue eloquently and passionately for diametrically opposed perspectives on an issue. Both sides can't both be right, even though a comment would in isolation be more than enough to convince someone who was not skeptical. If you can't distinguish which pretty words are the true ones, you'll be lead by the nose by the guy who can put his words together best, which isn't necessarily a great idea except if you're trying to learn to write and argue.

cerebrum 13y ago
You make an excellent point. Being a member of various forums I have encountered again and again the "clever arguer" who is someone who is able to convince lots of people of his opinion even when he is wrong.
wwweston 13y ago
> there are so many people who can argue eloquently and passionately for diametrically opposed perspectives on an issue. Both sides can't both be right It is sometimes true that both sides can't be right -- there certainly formal propositions which are mutually exclusive (a circle can be squared, a circle cannot be squared). Other times, people are arguing in a space where there's tension between multiple true principles (which programming language is best for your new project -- the more expressive/flexible/typesafe one you don't know? or the one you're already familiar with?).
Swizec 13y ago
> Both sides can't both be right This isn't mathematics, this is the real world. Here issues aren't two-sided, they are dodecahedrons and all sides are right.
- gadders 13y ago
  Or even one side could be right, but it's unknowable/unprovable.
- jamesaguilar 13y ago
  This is a perfect example. Even though you have worded this eloquently, your claim ("everyone is right, except in mathematics") is mutually exclusive to mine ("in some cases, two people speaking against each other cannot both be right"). Personally, I don't find your metaphor convincing. There are plenty of cases where not all parties are right.
  - Swizec 13y ago
    We both used infinity haphazardly. You said both sides can't be right, I said all sides are right. The truth is, it's even more grey than that. Sometimes both sides can't be right and sometimes some sides are not right. But the point stands, in reality you rarely if ever only have two sides and rarely if ever is any side demonstrably wrong in an objective way.
gbog 13y ago
> distinguish truth from fiction > read a lot > distinguish truth from fiction = difficult to learn from reading Sorry but you are plain wrong here, it seems. Distinguish truth from fiction can only happen if you have good eyes, so you see the thruth, and at the same time have access to good fiction, which you should get primarily from books or movies. Everyone has eyes to see: only those reading a lot will be able to tell the true from the invented.

cerebrum 13y ago

You make an excellent point. Being a member of various forums I have encountered again and again the "clever arguer" who is someone who is able to convince lots of people of his opinion even when he is wrong.

wwweston 13y ago

> there are so many people who can argue eloquently and passionately for diametrically opposed perspectives on an issue. Both sides can't both be right It is sometimes true that both sides can't be right -- there certainly formal propositions which are mutually exclusive (a circle can be squared, a circle cannot be squared). Other times, people are arguing in a space where there's tension between multiple true principles (which programming language is best for your new project -- the more expressive/flexible/typesafe one you don't know? or the one you're already familiar with?).

Swizec 13y ago

> Both sides can't both be right This isn't mathematics, this is the real world. Here issues aren't two-sided, they are dodecahedrons and all sides are right.

gadders 13y ago
Or even one side could be right, but it's unknowable/unprovable.
jamesaguilar 13y ago
This is a perfect example. Even though you have worded this eloquently, your claim ("everyone is right, except in mathematics") is mutually exclusive to mine ("in some cases, two people speaking against each other cannot both be right"). Personally, I don't find your metaphor convincing. There are plenty of cases where not all parties are right.
- Swizec 13y ago
  We both used infinity haphazardly. You said both sides can't be right, I said all sides are right. The truth is, it's even more grey than that. Sometimes both sides can't be right and sometimes some sides are not right. But the point stands, in reality you rarely if ever only have two sides and rarely if ever is any side demonstrably wrong in an objective way.

gbog 13y ago

> distinguish truth from fiction > read a lot > distinguish truth from fiction = difficult to learn from reading Sorry but you are plain wrong here, it seems. Distinguish truth from fiction can only happen if you have good eyes, so you see the thruth, and at the same time have access to good fiction, which you should get primarily from books or movies. Everyone has eyes to see: only those reading a lot will be able to tell the true from the invented.