"If You're Not With Us You're With The Terrorists"

I think that binary thinking or creating false dichotomies is contagious...

I see threads that suggest if you're not with the vegans than you're with the dog fighters and presumably cock fighters...

I see other threads that suggest if you're happy the child predators are getting exposed on Dateline TV you're with the voyeuristic producers of the program...

I see other threads that suggest if you don't support Cindy Sheehan over Nancy Pelosi or vice versa then you're not a true prgogressive...

Down with binary thinking... I'm digital...

:evilgrin:

I wanted to make sure that one wasn't inadvertently left out of the mix...

Or if you use your ac in the Summer your carbon footprint might as well be as big as some profligate billionaire with a 40,000 square foot home...

those that can count and those who can't.


</joke>

you're right though. I have often noticed the black/white thinking of many people and wondered about it. Heck, I am in an argument in the gun forum, even though I am not anti- or pro-gun control per se.

Same with the "militant vegetarian" threads. As a vegetarian who gave up meat for personal reasons, and who could give a rat's ass what someone else eats, I hate seeing those arguments. But I also hate feeling like the topic cannot even be brought up without someone jumping down my throat either, and trust me after 15 years I have heard a lot of BS from people over what I don't eat with no provocation.

Can't we all just .. well, if not actually get along, fake it?

those who understand binary and those who don't

Analogue and digital do vex me...

with octal, but not so much with hex. Fortunately, octal is dead for the most part.

Prime number bases make my head hurt. :-)

make my head hurt, too, starting with my hair. Thank Cthulhu and Boole for keeping me away from that nightmare.

:evilgrin:

eom

see my other one to you, hope it helps.

it's only 4C people :headbang:

:D

Aristotle would be pleased (and not in a good way).

eom

yep, you don't even have to leave DU find plenty of binary, critical, and logical um, 'thinking', if thats what ya wanna call it.

:D

Math isn't my forte...

Binary is just a base 2 number system - with only 2 digits (so it's 'digital') you count like this
1
10
11
100
101
110
111

It's the same way we count in decimal except there are only 2 symbols.

Analog doesn't have anything to do with math, really...it describes something that varies in infinitesimally small "steps", that is 'continuously'. You can measure temperature, which has an infinite number of possible values with an analog thermometer like the one you put in your mouth...or with a 'digital' kind which -approximates- the correct value as closely as you want depending on the complexity (and cost) of the ADC (analog to digital converter) being used.

Does that help?

Counting fingers is digital (using your natural digits), measuring a cup of flour is analog. :D

So a binary system is an exclusionary system... One can't be eight and nine years old at the same time...

It can also be expressed as "True/False", "Yes/No", "On/Off" etc.

sorry.

as you say, 8 can't be 9 (in any number system with a base of 9 or higher!) Numbers are digital, "quantities" are generally analog. But sometimes they can be both...you can have a quart of peas that also equals exactly, say,
1,240 peas. Digitally speaking, that 1,240 number is both accurate and precise. The "quart" can be very accurate
but is much less precise. (the difference between them can be confusing, I know)

in the "8/9" example, 8 can also not be 1,2,3,4,5,6, or 7. A truly binary system or concept has only 2 options.

And you're spot on with the analog/digital explanation.

eom

Same idea.

any number system is inherently digital since it's strictly defined in discrete values. :-)

I try to catch myself,but not always with success. x(