Amazing. I'm only two days into the new semester, and I'm already contemplating fleeing to go live in a van down by the river. Or maybe in a hut up on the mountaintop. Whichever gets better TV reception, I suppose.
Anyway, I'm sitting in a class tonight, and the professor is rambling about how odd it is being a biology person in a statistics class, since you're surrounded by math people and all. He says they look at things differently, that they have a worldview based solely on "fact", to the exclusion of reality.
Now how the hell does that work? Aren't facts part of reality? Don't facts come from observing reality, so how can you base a worldview on something, while excluding the thing that would seem to be the source of the thing you're focusing on? I'm sure the "prof" was exaggerating, but it just seems like such an odd statement to make, because I can't quite figure what the hell it means. Maybe he means facts in terms of universal laws and such, and they somehow determine these laws without interacting with the very things that are governed by them?
I don't know. It just makes me want to flee even more, but I think I'll just get some sleep instead.
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5 comments:
Hey, Math is hard!
Boy, your school starts early! Sounds as though your prof is just bloviating. Next thing you know, he'll be talking about "paradigms" and you'll have to go to sleep with your eyes open.
A handy skill to cultivate.
Maybe he considers that "reality" is made of more than just what factually is, and also includes socially constructed things that don't have binary value (things like art or beauty or mood or spirituality).
Maybe he prefers a mysterious universe over an unveiled one. But then a hard science like biology doesn't really seem to be the best route for him to take.
I would've considered a fact as being the very definition of reality. I mean, if a fact isn't "real", then it's not a fact. Right?
Brain...hurts..
sallyp: I've always tried to sleep by propping my head with one hand, and with my ball cap covering my face, it looks like I'm staring down at my textbook/notebook. Except my head would always roll off my hand, which woke me up.
the dane: Yeah, he could be thinking of art and more subjective things, or maybe it's a "perception is reality" sort of thing, since what's perceived isn't always true?
Of course, he is kind of an oddball. The last class I had with him, he made sure to tell us that all that mattered in life (for non-sentient things anyway) was food and sex, because the food makes you big and strong, so you get all the babes and lots of copulations (direct quote). I think he's spent too much time in the desert following lizards.
jason: Welcome to my world from 6-9 on Tuesday nights. This could be a long semester
You know, every single night-class I had during my time at University was taught by a Professor that could be best described as "odd". maybe the normal day-tim Profs didn't want them around during the day? That, or they were sleeping off the peyote hang-over.
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