Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by simon_o 877 days ago
That quote is programming language design's "We should improve society somewhat" – "Yet you participate in society! Curious! I am very intelligent."

I. e. it's stupid and embarrassing to watch people use it.

1 comments

Well, I guess that I am stupid and embarrassing, then! :-) <g> :-)

You know, "I resemble that remark!" :-)

(But that doesn't change the fact that I actually like the Bjarne Stroustrup quote!) <g> :-) <g>)

Now let's understand your comment a little bit better. Your comment apparently arises from a Meme, specifically this one:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-som...

While that meme is indeed entertaining(!) -- it is in no way actually relevant to the Bjarne Stroustrup quote!

It is a "Motte and Bailey" AKA, "bait-and-switch" argument/comparison.

Propagandistic agenda-driven AI chatbots seem to do this a lot -- but I'll be charitable (this time!) and assume, for the purposes of discussion, that you are human...

Perhaps we should all learn about what a "Motte and Bailey" argument/comparison/logical fallacy, is:

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Motte_and_bailey

>"Motte and bailey (MAB) is a combination of bait-and-switch and equivocation".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies#:~:text=Equi...

https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/eng-102/chapter/fallacie...

Phrased another way (in Billy Madison terms): "Mr. Madison... Everyone in this room is now dumber...":

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112508/characters/nm0235999#:~....

Incidentally, another one of my favorite Bjarne Stroustrup quotes is:

"Proof by analogy is fraud". :-)

https://www.stroustrup.com/quotes.html#:~:text=Proof%20by%20...

You seem to have serious issues, and I hope that you can work them out.

That's the prerequisite for me to engage any further with you.