Important Philosophical Questions + POLLS

Today I Learned:

Poison and venom are two different things.

Who knew?

  • I did know.
  • I Learned Today as well.

0 voters

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But knowing that you are wrong can be helpful, since you can work toward correcting that. In some cases, knowing that you are wrong confirms that the opposite is correct, by elimination.

If you don’t know whether or not you are right, you can also work toward confirming or disproving that as well, however, that type of wording seems to imply that it is at least very difficult to figure that out.

It all depends on context. If I were trying to prove or disprove a mathematical result, which I know must be either true or false, I would be happy to be able to learn that my initial conjecture was wrong. However, making a correct conjecture in the first place, but then not being able to prove it is undesirable.

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Both of those words come from Latin, by the way.

poison from pótió, venom from uenénum.

The native, and extinct, English word is apparently ĂĄtor, cognate with Swedish etter.

Edit: Not so extinct? Wiktionary suggests a dialectal descendant atter.

(Apologies if I sniped Sanonius)

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Nah, 't’s all good. :slight_smile: I didn’t know about the Germanic root! We just say Gift which is obviously because you give it to somebody.

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I sorta learned today. Although I talk to someone sometimes online that goes by Poison so when I hear Poison I kinda think of them. Isn’t venom from animals that bites though and poison can come from venom but it can come from other stuff too? Otherwise idk.

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I don’t remember where @martin3141 is from (sorry :frowning: * ) but it seems all native speakers knew. I guess it’s because there’s no such distinction in my language (that I know of) and I never happened to come across a text that had to do with that before. Well, it’s always nice to learn something new. :slight_smile:

*if you are a native English speaker, double sorry, oops.

@Haze_with_a_Z According to Australian Academy of Science

https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/poison-vs-venom#:~:text=Poison%20is%20a%20toxin%20that,or%20absorption%20through%20the%20skin.&text=Venom%20is%20a%20specialised%20type,via%20a%20bite%20or%20sting.

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To be fair, I know there’s a difference, but I don’t know what it is.

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Maybe I interpreted the poll differently than others, but here’s my view:

I assume “knowing that you’re wrong” means that you claim something is true of which you know it is not. Hence you’re either spreading disinformation (“fake news”) or you’re taking a stance to win an argument instead of finding a solution (non-constructive argumentation). I see both as terrible.

“Not knowing that you’re right” on the other hand is just everyday business. I think I know things, but I’m usually uncertain about them.

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However, mathematically I would not know my conjecture, or else I’d claim it to be a theorem. The fact that it is a conjecture means that “I did not know that I was right” (or more correctly, at that point I “did not know whether I was right”)

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I would rather state a conjecture that is difficult to prove / disprove and hence interesting, than state a conjecture that can easily be proven wrong.

The question depends a lot on context, but isn’t the fun in polls like these to see people’s interpretations, or to try to find arguments even without any context? At least I think that’s fun ^^

Here’s another reason why I prefer “not knowing if I’m right”. Consider the laws of physics. I suppose many people would say that we know that these laws apply, right? I believe that is wrong (strictly speaking). Over the course of history, the up-to-date theory of physics has changed countless times, and I believe it will keep changing and evolving in the future. This theory is the best model we’ve come up with to describe the world we observe, but is not necessarily the “underlying truth”. In this sense even researchers “don’t know if they’re right”. Then that can’t be such a bad thing, right?

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Ok this has 350 replies. Way more than I thought it did. hahaha

Will this thread ever hit 1k posts?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

Should I lock this topic if it reaches 999 replies?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

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999 replies = 1k posts, right?

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Yes, as the topic is considered a post in the post counter on the side. As such, it counts. However, the topic does not count as a “post” on the user leaderboard, or user statistics; topics are considered separate from “posts” (replies). It depends on where you are talking about it.

I consider the topic a post. @Haze_with_a_Z was asking about it hitting 1k posts, which is 999 replies. Even if @mark5000 did close the thread at 999 replies, then we would still have accomplished Haze’s goal.

Anyway, this thread is a polls thread, so


Does the topic count as a post?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

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I knew before but I kind of keep forgetting it - it’s only part of my passive vocabulary. I still need to actively remind myself in order not to use the wrong word.

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How much do you type and how much do you write (as in pen and paper)*?

  • 100% I only type
  • 75% type- 25% write
  • 50% type- 50% write
  • 25% type- 75% write
  • 100% write

0 voters

*approximate percentages, otherwise it’s a whole long line

Has this changed recently, because of the whole pandemic thing, comparing to yourself before?

  • Yes
  • No
  • I don’t know/ haven’t thought about it

0 voters

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I put I only type because I mostly type, but whenever I’m trying to work on a problem or brainstorm something or note down players interested in a TMG Tourney, I get out my mechanical pencil and legal pad.

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I take all kinds of notes on paper, but I don’t note that much :man_shrugging:t2:

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It’s too random and rare.

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Depends on what it is. With maths I always write by hand (the last few years on computer, with a writing tablet). But I write by far the most things here on the forum or on the main site.

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