tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post1508182210208753399..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Today's readingLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-43948547692595659872008-02-13T09:20:00.000-07:002008-02-13T09:20:00.000-07:00If you ever get embroiled in a discussion with a f...<I>If you ever get embroiled in a discussion with a fractally wrong person on the Internet -- in mailing lists, newsgroups, or website forums -- your best bet is to say your piece once and ignore any replies, thus saving yourself time.</I><BR/><BR/>I spent a couple of years at the Internet Infidels Discussion Forum, debating theism. Hence this blog.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-24174033324602861142008-02-13T09:19:00.000-07:002008-02-13T09:19:00.000-07:00My personal favorite of the "Danish cartoons" was ...My personal favorite of the "Danish cartoons" was the one with Mohammed standing in front of the gates to Paradise warding off a crowd of martyrs and shouting "Stop, we've run out of virgins!"<BR/><BR/>Hilarious.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-89575500369169658922008-02-13T09:14:00.000-07:002008-02-13T09:14:00.000-07:00The concept of "Fractal Wrongness" has apparently ...The concept of "Fractal Wrongness" has apparently been around for several years, although (as I commented at TechSkeptic) I hadn't seen it used until a few days ago. I found the full definition at <A HREF="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/klee/misc/lexicon.html#fractal_wrongness" REL="nofollow">this lexicon of computing</A>. The full definition is:<BR/><BR/>The state of being wrong at every conceivable scale of resolution. That is, from a distance, a fractally wrong person's worldview is incorrect; and furthermore, if you zoom in on any small part of that person's worldview, that part is just as wrong as the whole worldview.<BR/><BR/>Debating with a person who is fractally wrong leads to infinite regress, as every refutation you make of that person's opinions will lead to a rejoinder, full of half-truths, leaps of logic, and outright lies, that requires just as much refutation to debunk as the first one. It is as impossible to convince a fractally wrong person of anything as it is to walk around the edge of the Mandelbrot set in finite time.<BR/><BR/>If you ever get embroiled in a discussion with a fractally wrong person on the Internet -- in mailing lists, newsgroups, or website forums -- your best bet is to say your piece once and ignore any replies, thus saving yourself time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com