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A comment on What is it like to understand advanced mathematics?. Parent comment

Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by dgut on Saturday August 12, 2017 @12:45PM (#14998638)
That PhD means "Doctor of Philosophy" is just an artifact of the fact that all doctoral degrees were once subcategories of "Philosophy".

Philosophy today is pretty useless.

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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by pmoriarty on Saturday August 12, 2017 @02:27PM (#14999177)
"Philosophy today is pretty useless."

Studying philosophy teaches you how to think. If you consider that useless...

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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by dgut on Sunday August 13, 2017 @03:59PM (#15004619)
You claim that. Yet none of the most mentally demanding tasks were done by philosophers. Today philosophy is mostly meaningless intellectual posturing. In the past, it was the act of thinking without applying the scientific method. As Feynman said of Spinoza "meaningless chewing around".
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by webnrrd2k on Saturday August 12, 2017 @07:19PM (#15000593)
If philosophy (and only philosophy) teaches people how to think, then who taught the first philosopher?
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by pmoriarty on Saturday August 12, 2017 @07:57PM (#15000746)
No one claimed only philosophy taught people how to think.
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by waqf on Saturday August 12, 2017 @05:36PM (#15000128)
How do you know it doesn't just draw out a capacity to think that you already have, and that you could equally well have drawn out by studying or working at something else?
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by pmoriarty on Saturday August 12, 2017 @06:33PM (#15000415)
Maybe you could, but that still doesn't make philosophy useless.
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by pjmorris on Saturday August 12, 2017 @02:09PM (#14999071)
I'd argue that philosophy may become more important than ever as we contemplate the ethics of handing decisions like who's going to die in a trolley-problem type self-driving car accident over to machines.
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by maxerickson on Saturday August 12, 2017 @02:11PM (#14999092)
It'll be easier to (metaphorically) untie people from the tracks.

Program slow speed limits in dangerous areas, install sensor augmentation in areas where vehicle located sensors don't work well, rebuild roads to work better, etc.

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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by pcmaffey on Saturday August 12, 2017 @01:39PM (#14998912)
Most philosophers throughout history would laugh at their body of knowledge being measured in terms of utility. And then would become saddened that economics has become the dominant global value system.
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by notduncansmith on Saturday August 12, 2017 @02:19PM (#14999136)
Economics is the word for the dominant global value system. I think a sad philosopher has more work to do.
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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by Ixiaus on Saturday August 12, 2017 @02:47PM (#14999295)
A bit parochial to say that Philosophy--as it is taught or studied today--is useless, in my opinion. You're entitled to that thought but you might be surprised by the utility Philosophy has to offer.

I think Philosophy studied with other disciplines is a particularly potent combination. Of my friends who have done this (they are very few) they are perhaps the most inspiring and trenchant thinkers I know.

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Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics? by muninn_ on Saturday August 12, 2017 @12:51PM (#14998673)
I think it's sad that your view that philosophy is worthless has become more of a mainstream feeling than it ought to be. Not everything needs to be measured in terms of usefulness. Interestingly enough, I think you find many developers have a natural affinity for philosophy. All this talk about AI, for example, is just philosophy.
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