felipec.substack.com
Changing someone's mind is very difficult, that's why I like puzzles most people get wrong: to try to open their mind. Challenging the claim that 2+2 is unequivocally 4 is one of my favorites to get people to reconsider what they think is true with 100% certainty.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
This seems more like a "gotcha" then a genuine prompt to get people to reconsider the nature of truth. Without knowing how you're construing 2 + 2 != 4, I can fairly confidently guess it's one of the following:
An arbitrary redefinition of "2" or "4", e.g. "2 AM" or something silly like that.
Highly advanced mathematics, possibly something non-Euclidean.
If the person you're asking is polite, they'll likely go along with it, but their internal monologue is probably something less like "this makes me rethink everything!" and more like "ugh, this guy really want to show me how smart he thinks he is".
Yes, but I don't care about their reaction or their opinion of me.
I've never seen anybody seriously question any of their core beliefs in real time. But these notions plant a seed which eventually they can't avoid. Sleep is important in mulling these down.
In fact, I remember mentioning to somebody the claim "all models are wrong, but some are useful", which was immediately dismissed (since in an argument nobody wants to be wrong), but some time later the same person made the exact same claim to me. He forgot I was the one who mentioned it, but more importantly: he forgot that initially he immediately dismissed it.
I bet many people will forget this article and dismiss it as pedantry, but the next time someone says "this is as true as
2+2=4" they might think twice. These two things are not exclusionary.More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link