pgbh comments on Rationality Quotes December 2014

pgbh 31 Dec 2014 2:03 UTC
1 point

After reading Contrafactus, a friend said to me: “My uncle was almost President of the U.S.!”

“Really?” I said.

“Sure,” he replied, “he was skipper of the PT 108.” (John F. Kennedy was skipper of the PT 109).

-- Douglas Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach
- timujin 31 Dec 2014 8:57 UTC
  2 points
  Parent
  It is a good quote in general, but not quite a rationality quote.
  - pgbh 1 Jan 2015 20:17 UTC
    2 points
    Parent
    I thought it was a nice illustration of the distinction between map and territory, or between different maps of the same territory. In other words, JFK and the speaker’s uncle were very close together by a certain map, but that doesn’t mean they were very similar in real life.