Psycho-Babble Social Thread 585017

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Re: 99% can be below-average » Gabbix2

Posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 17:55:32

In reply to Re: 99% can be below-average » pseudoname, posted by Gabbix2 on December 3, 2005, at 17:54:20

> I think that was the point, or the meaning of the comment.. which was meant tongue-in-cheek.


yeah. and i don't think the post that started the thread was really intended as an argument either...

 

Re: 99% can be below-average » alexandra_k

Posted by Gabbix2 on December 3, 2005, at 18:47:51

In reply to Re: 99% can be below-average » Gabbix2, posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 17:55:32

I don't think so either.. :)

 

What did I do wrong? » Gabbix2

Posted by pseudoname on December 3, 2005, at 22:01:27

In reply to Re: 99% can be below-average » pseudoname, posted by Gabbix2 on December 3, 2005, at 17:54:20

> Re: 99% can be below-average » pseudoname
> I think that was the point, or the meaning of the comment.. which was meant tongue-in-cheek.

Gabbix...

I was sorry to see you thought my post was not appropriate.

You're right, Cam's post was tongue-in-cheek. But why do you think I didn't understand that?

This entire thread (that got moved) is playful with math & logic.

My post also plays with numbers, words, and rules. I thought it, too, *might* be pleasurable for people who enjoy logic games and math. At least it could be interesting.

I really am sorry. (I'm not being sarcastic.) I guess I'm still too socially tone-deaf to see why the other 29 logic-laden, playfully-correcting-each-other, back-&-forth posts are acceptable (including my earlier ones, I guess) but my last observation was not.

I'm open to anyone's suggestions, but please be gentle.

 

Re: What did I do wrong?

Posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:06:54

In reply to What did I do wrong? » Gabbix2, posted by pseudoname on December 3, 2005, at 22:01:27

hey...
i shouldn't really speak for gabbi...
and i'm sure that she will come along and speak for herself but...
i don't want you beating yourself up longer than you have to...

> > I think that was the point, or the meaning of the comment.. which was meant tongue-in-cheek.

i really don't think she meant that as a personal criticism. or even meant to say that your post was inappropriate. i actually came along here to sort a little something out myself...

> This entire thread (that got moved) is playful with math & logic.

:-)
yeah

> My post also plays with numbers, words, and rules. I thought it, too, *might* be pleasurable for people who enjoy logic games and math. At least it could be interesting.

:-)

> I really am sorry. (I'm not being sarcastic.) I guess I'm still too socially tone-deaf to see why the other 29 logic-laden, playfully-correcting-each-other, back-&-forth posts are acceptable (including my earlier ones, I guess) but my last observation was not.

(((((((pseudoname))))))))
its okay. i really don't think she meant anything personal. or anything personal about your post...


 

Re: Do I think I'm smarter than my (old) p-docs?

Posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:14:18

In reply to Re: What did I do wrong?, posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:06:54

hmmmm
depends on what you mean by 'smarter'.
they would probably beat me at the GRE anyday of the week...
or the intelligence tests even (but i bet they get to play with 'em more than me - no fair!)
i don't really know the first thing about medication so i guess i trust their judgement on that (because i'm too lazy to study it myself)
but even if i did study it myself they'd still have years on me...
and thus if i disagreed it would hinge on WHY they thought as they did (and their reasons for that) and WHY I thought as I did (and my reasons for that) and so is somebody neglecting an important piece of information or something?

its not really about 'smarter than'

but i do take what they have to say with a grain of salt
(or a whole shaker)
;-)
but then if i believed everything they told me...

:-(

i guess what i find tricky sometimes...
is people on the meds board...
whose p-doc tells them to do one thing...
and they proceed to do something different without informing their p-doc of that first.

because...

there could be a reason why that is not a good idea. a reason that people don't know because they haven't formally learned the relevant information (and thus might miss something relevant).

but i don't know...
i don't know much about medications...
except...
that they don't seem to do a lot for me.

 

Re: ...I should've added... » pseudoname

Posted by Larry Hoover on December 3, 2005, at 22:17:18

In reply to ...I should've added... » Larry Hoover, posted by pseudoname on December 3, 2005, at 16:40:29

> I forgot to add (to my preceding post about averages) that Larry's statement...
>
> > And 50% of pharmacists graduated in the bottom half of their class.
>
> ...is, I think, always true, since it refers to a percentile, not an average.

It is always true because 50% is a half, of anything.

The 50th percentile is the median, so that's also another way of saying the same thing.

Lar

 

Re: What did I do wrong? » alexandra_k

Posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:17:49

In reply to Re: What did I do wrong?, posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:06:54

oh.
and i enjoyed your posts
and your sense of humour.
had to think about the math ;-)

 

Re: ...I should've added...

Posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:21:09

In reply to Re: ...I should've added... » pseudoname, posted by Larry Hoover on December 3, 2005, at 22:17:18

ew.
and i was contemplating enrolling in stats 101 over summer school to try and get over my phobia of numbers...

letters are okay...

but numbers are funny.

is number dyslexia a disorder - anyone?

i'm serious...

i think i have issues reading and transcribing numbers...

3's become 8's
and 6's become 5's etc
even when it's typed
and so i put them into my calculator all wrong
:-(
and get a novel answer everytime i do an equation :-(

 

Re: What did I do wrong? » pseudoname

Posted by Gabbix2 on December 3, 2005, at 22:43:20

In reply to What did I do wrong? » Gabbix2, posted by pseudoname on December 3, 2005, at 22:01:27

Oh Absolutely nothing!
Alexandra was absolutely right, I wasn't sure that your post meant that you knew Cam was being tongue in cheek that's all. It's so difficult to read intonation into plain type.
I'm really sorry that I made you feel bad
There was no need for you to apologize at all

((Pseudoname))

 

Thanks Alex!

Posted by Gabbix2 on December 3, 2005, at 22:45:04

In reply to Re: What did I do wrong?, posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:06:54

I really appreciated that, you were exactly right and I'm glad you said something, I felt awful that my post came across that way and I too am glad that Pseudoname didn't have to feel bad any longer than necessary

 

Re: ...or overgeneralizing?

Posted by Phillipa on December 3, 2005, at 23:15:32

In reply to Re: ...or overgeneralizing? » badhaircut, posted by Larry Hoover on December 1, 2005, at 13:08:02

Wow this Thread is going on and on. The answer to me is that you need to know all about the meds you are taking. Ask questions both to the pdoc and pharmacist. And based on your reaction to them. Call pdoc and say what they are. It is ultimately your decision whether to take them or not. And not everyone responds to meds or even responds the same way. We are all individuals. Fondly, Phillipa

 

Re: What did I do wrong? » alexandra_k

Posted by Larry Hoover on December 4, 2005, at 0:26:40

In reply to Re: What did I do wrong? » alexandra_k, posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:17:49

> oh.
> and i enjoyed your posts
> and your sense of humour.
> had to think about the math ;-)

I like that little trick, alex, posting complements to yourself. Sly girl, you. ;-)

 

Re: ...I should've added... » alexandra_k

Posted by Larry Hoover on December 4, 2005, at 0:40:37

In reply to Re: ...I should've added..., posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:21:09

> ew.
> and i was contemplating enrolling in stats 101 over summer school to try and get over my phobia of numbers...

And, perhaps to get a grounding in population study, and the individual. Very useful.

> letters are okay...
>
> but numbers are funny.
>
> is number dyslexia a disorder - anyone?

Dyscalculia. Hundreds of thousands of hits on Google. Lots of stuff about how to manage/cope.

> i'm serious...

So am I.

> i think i have issues reading and transcribing numbers...
>
> 3's become 8's
> and 6's become 5's etc
> even when it's typed
> and so i put them into my calculator all wrong
> :-(
> and get a novel answer everytime i do an equation :-(

Ya, that's what would happen. And that's an example I could have seen, straight from the first website I looked at. "Students with dyscalculia have a very difficult time visualizing numbers and often mentally mix up the numbers, resulting in what appear to be 'stupid mistakes.'"

When you're less busy, we can talk about it, if you'd like.

Lar

 

Logic

Posted by verne on December 4, 2005, at 8:47:21

In reply to Re: ...I should've added... » alexandra_k, posted by Larry Hoover on December 4, 2005, at 0:40:37

Could anyone recommend a good introductory logic book? Something between a textbook and Logic for Dummies. Not too many funny mathematical symbols please.

I've been doing logic puzzles since I was a kid - think I inherited it from my mom. (I like Dell logic puzzles - not the computer company) But I get lost in the more complicated puzzles that ask me to figure out how my third cousin is also my aunt, grandmother, and identical twin. (and Sweden wasn't involved)

I dropped out of a logic class in college because it looked too much like math. I wanted a fuzzy philosophy course where I could BS my way through - Logic 101 wasn't the answer.

Verne

 

Re: Zeugma help!!!!!

Posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 14:53:35

In reply to Re: ...addendum » linkadge, posted by alexandra_k on December 2, 2005, at 22:10:28

Ooh. I woke up at three in the morning...
With the realisation that I messed this up rather...

> 'the present king of france is bald'.
> It is not T, so it must be F.
> but to say it is F is to imply / logically entail that
> 'there is a present king of france and that present king of france is bald' is T.

LOL!!! No it isn't. to say that it is F is to imply / logically entail that 'there is a present king of france and that present king of france is bald' is F.

(oops)

So...

> but of course 'there is a present king of france' is F.

Yep.

> and thus 'there is a present king of france and that king of france is bald' is F.

Yep.

But there isn't a contradiction anymore...

:-(

Crap.

I'm sure it was neither true nor false because it led to contradiction if we regarded it as false...

Zeugma...

help...

 

Re: ...I should've added... » Larry Hoover

Posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 14:59:50

In reply to Re: ...I should've added... » alexandra_k, posted by Larry Hoover on December 4, 2005, at 0:40:37

> And, perhaps to get a grounding in population study, and the individual. Very useful.

ya.
i was impressed with the text book. about the first sentance was: 'statistics is not math. it is a set of procedures for (i forget)'. that helped :-) but no. there are still numbers in it :-(

> > letters are okay...
> > but numbers are funny.
> > is number dyslexia a disorder - anyone?

> Dyscalculia. Hundreds of thousands of hits on Google. Lots of stuff about how to manage/cope.

ooh.
can you get a math transcriber like you can get a reader / writer for arts and soc. sci courses?

> > i'm serious...
> So am I.

hmm.

> > i think i have issues reading and transcribing numbers...

> > 3's become 8's
> > and 6's become 5's etc
> > even when it's typed
> > and so i put them into my calculator all wrong
> > :-(
> > and get a novel answer everytime i do an equation :-(

> Ya, that's what would happen. And that's an example I could have seen, straight from the first website I looked at. "Students with dyscalculia have a very difficult time visualizing numbers and often mentally mix up the numbers, resulting in what appear to be 'stupid mistakes.'"

ah. yes, thats me. full of 'stupid mistakes'. and... i never learned the stuff you needed to learn by rote (so no calculation is involved) - like my times tables. and like adding single numbers together. so that means... i need to calculate everything (in my head or with a calculator). but i do the same thing with them in my head as i do with them trying to key them into the calculator. and reading them too... doing check sums (of peoples marks through the course) was a bit tricky for me... i managed to do it :-) but had to try it 5 or 6 times to get three consistent answers...

(never had a complaint about that i should say - and i'd match it to what the secretary got)

> When you're less busy, we can talk about it, if you'd like.

yeah. that'd be cool
:-)

 

Re: Logic » verne

Posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 15:15:17

In reply to Logic, posted by verne on December 4, 2005, at 8:47:21

> Could anyone recommend a good introductory logic book? Something between a textbook and Logic for Dummies. Not too many funny mathematical symbols please.

hmm. this is a text book...
but the first half is in English (no symbols) and deals with puzzles / problems in English. There are LOTS of puzzles / problems and every 5th answer is provided in the back of the book.

The second half deals with LPC (lower predicate calculus) and HPC (higher predicate calculus). The symbols might seem a little tricky at first... But there comes a point where it is actually easier to deal with the symbols than it is to try and tackle the problems in English. Also... English is ambiguous (with respect to how one is supposed to translate it into LPC / HPC) while the logical languages are 100% clear and precise.

In first year logic... We worked from chapter 7 on. The logical languages. Before school started I started working through the first half of the book though. Because they said 'no particular mathematical aptitude' was required and I was worried I would bomb. I actually enjoyed the first half. Mostly... The text doesn't make a lot of sense... But you kind of read it half heartedly then have a go at the problems. Only use the text insofar as it helps you understand how to do the problems...

"Introduction to Logic"

Otherwise...
Maybe you are more interested in critical reasoning? That deals with English rather than logical languages. I should really put in the plug for this book

"Bowell and Kemp"

The second edition is coming out soon... Though to be fair there are millions of these on the market. I have to say... IMO critical reasoning is more frustrating than logic because there are ambiguities with respect to how you 'read' (translate / interpret) the argument / problem. So... Sometimes there is no right answer. It is more about the REASONS for your answer. Logic has a right answer, though...

> I dropped out of a logic class in college because it looked too much like math.

Yeah, I sympathise...
(If it is any consolation math can actually be REDUCED to logic (I think) so long as set theory / venn diagrams are allowed as a bridge)
So... You can draw problems as sets and sets within sets. I wanted to do that with the all / most / some / one thing... But you can't draw circles in these txt boxes...

> I wanted a fuzzy philosophy course where I could BS my way through - Logic 101 wasn't the answer.

Ah. I haven't encountered a 'fuzzy philosophy course where I could BS my way through' yet ;-)

 

Re: Looking at it another way.... » Larry Hoover

Posted by CamW on December 4, 2005, at 18:02:20

In reply to Re: Looking at it another way.... » CamW, posted by Larry Hoover on December 3, 2005, at 13:25:36

Lar - ... and the psychiatrist who graduates at the bottom of his class is still call "Doctor" [shiver].

Naw, I won't be coming to the Babble Reunion; it's too far away and I am using up my Air Miles accompanying my daughter to curling bonspiels. Besides, I think I've burned way to many bridges here, over the years [sigh].

Nice to hear from you Lar - Cam

 

Re: What did I do wrong? » Larry Hoover

Posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 18:09:27

In reply to Re: What did I do wrong? » alexandra_k, posted by Larry Hoover on December 4, 2005, at 0:26:40


> I like that little trick, alex, posting complements to yourself. Sly girl, you. ;-)

LOL!
I just got that...
I wasn't sure what you were on about...

It was for pseudoname...

 

Re: ...I should've added... » Larry Hoover

Posted by linkadge on December 4, 2005, at 18:49:10

In reply to Re: ...I should've added... » pseudoname, posted by Larry Hoover on December 3, 2005, at 22:17:18

If you had a class of 4.

3 of which achieved 100%
and the 4th achieving 0%,

Which two of the four would be in the bottom half of the class ?


Linkadge

 

Re: ...I should've added... » alexandra_k

Posted by zeugma on December 6, 2005, at 20:03:46

In reply to Re: ...I should've added..., posted by alexandra_k on December 3, 2005, at 22:21:09

> ew.
> and i was contemplating enrolling in stats 101 over summer school to try and get over my phobia of numbers...
>
> letters are okay...
>
> but numbers are funny.
>
> is number dyslexia a disorder - anyone?
>
yes. i have number dyslexia. i also have problems with letters- but context helps.
> i'm serious...
>
i can't do a proof, cause i always get noncommutaive operations wrong. as a matter of fact polish logic works best for me- no parentheses, just a simple left-to right iteration thus:

Kab= conjunction of a and b
KNab= conjunction of not-a, and b
KNaNb= conjunction of not-a and not-b
Cab= if a, then b
CNab= if not-a, then b
KCNabc= conjunction of if not-a, then b, and c
and so on, it iterates. far more perspicuous to my parentheses-phobic (nut only in logic) and dyslexic mind.

what i like about it is that it shows how any places each operator uses.
> i think i have issues reading and transcribing numbers...
>
> 3's become 8's
> and 6's become 5's etc
> even when it's typed
> and so i put them into my calculator all wrong
> :-(
> and get a novel answer everytime i do an equation :-(>>

my ambitions to be a scientist were scotched in boyhood by far too many novel answers.

-z

 

Re: Zeugma help!!!!! » alexandra_k

Posted by zeugma on December 6, 2005, at 21:03:36

In reply to Re: Zeugma help!!!!!, posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 14:53:35

> Ooh. I woke up at three in the morning...
> With the realisation that I messed this up rather...
>
> > 'the present king of france is bald'.
> > It is not T, so it must be F.
> > but to say it is F is to imply / logically entail that
> > 'there is a present king of france and that present king of france is bald' is T.
>
> LOL!!! No it isn't. to say that it is F is to imply / logically entail that 'there is a present king of france and that present king of france is bald' is F.>>

it doesn't entail all that. to say that 'Z is bald' is F entails nothing about my quantificational status (although it may be very wishful thinking). 'the present king of france' is a possible existent and so contributes to the meaning of the whole (or so i would want to say to protect my precious principle of compositionality) but cannot be assigned to the extension of the predicate 'is bald,' because no tally of bald objects picks him out.

in fact there is no list that he appears on. what are we to make of him then? kaplan said that descriptions are always 'searching, searching, searching.' we are to imagine the description as a kind of identifiability rule, which we can use to range over all the objects in the universe. if it comes up empty as in the case of the present king of france, at least we knew where to look.

(this is more poetry than logic)


>

> (oops)
>
> So...
>
> > but of course 'there is a present king of france' is F.
>
> Yep.
>
sentences with quantifiers are tricky.

'there i am, in front of the computer' is T.

but i'd want to say that this conveys virtually no information without context.

'there are two planets inside the earth's orbit' is T thanks to the existence of Mercury and venus, and the fact that both can be paired with the concept 'planet inside the earth's orbit.'

'there is no present king of france' is T because nothing can be paired with the concept 'present king of france.'

i am assuming that existential statements involve pairings of objects with concepts, while descriptions do not. 'the second planet from the sun is smoggy' can be taken as ambiguous. someone ignorant of astronomy can say this and fail to identify venus as the second planet from the sun,in which case the language does the work for him, so to speak- the sentence is T in virtue of a concept-concept pairing, which strikes my logically untuned ear as meaning that 'the second planet from the sun' is a second-order predicate, which ranges over predicates- in this case the first-order predicate 'is smoggy,' which ranges over objects.

ok, that's all mangled.

if we accept possible worlds we can say that 'the present king of france' is an object.

but we can't say 'there is a present king of france' is T, because any identification of an object as the present king of france would be an error.

i don't like this however.


> > and thus 'there is a present king of france and that king of france is bald' is F.
>
> Yep.
>
> But there isn't a contradiction anymore...
>
> :-(
>
> Crap.
>
> I'm sure it was neither true nor false because it led to contradiction if we regarded it as false...
>
> Zeugma...
>
> help...
>
ok, i tried.

now please help me sort out my own mess.


:-(

-z

 

Re: Zeugma help!!!!!

Posted by zeugma on December 6, 2005, at 21:24:19

In reply to Re: Zeugma help!!!!! » alexandra_k, posted by zeugma on December 6, 2005, at 21:03:36

'there is no present king of france' is F because there is no object that can be paired with the concept 'present king of france.' this suggests substituitional quantification to me- ie. that it is bits of language that take the place of variables in quantified sentences.

when it is not too late i will post something about substitutional quantification.

if i did the research now i would be up all night, and that would be very, very bad.

will post on substituitional quantification asap (in case anyone is holding their breath).

-z

 

Re: But wait! » CamW

Posted by AuntieMel on December 7, 2005, at 10:29:51

In reply to Re: Looking at it another way.... » Larry Hoover, posted by CamW on December 4, 2005, at 18:02:20

I just want to say....

I'm glad to actually finally be able to tell you hello. I read all the archives, so I feel like I know you.

 

Re: But wait! » AuntieMel

Posted by CamW on December 8, 2005, at 1:51:05

In reply to Re: But wait! » CamW, posted by AuntieMel on December 7, 2005, at 10:29:51

Thanks Auntie - It was fun while it lasted, but then it got not fun, anymore. My ego got too big and I had to spend a fortune on Vaseline to grease the my head in order to get through doors.

Now my views on psychopharmacology have changed and I don't want to have to defend my beliefs (although I think that I could; but I just don't have the energy to do so).

It's not that I am sure that I'm right; it's just that I have no desire to shatter others hopes and belief systems. I'm happy to keep my warped thoughts to myself now. Also, I don't think that I am the "expert" that I once was (the more I learned, the less I knew for sure, until I was sure that I knew nothing at all).

Thanks for the compliments; it's nice to know that I may have helped some people along the way.

Sincerely - Cam


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