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A comment on Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic. Parent comment

Re:Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic by Aloisius on Thursday February 19, 2015 @02:14PM (#9076197)
> Does that make a highly accurate approximation into a less accurate one?

What we have right now is not an approximation, but a binary measurement. Turning sex into an approximation would be considered a significant step forward considering science tells us it is not binary.

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Re:Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic by Kalium on Thursday February 19, 2015 @02:23PM (#9076287)
As simon_ and Symmetry point out, that binary is in fact a pretty accurate approximation. So it seems we have both a binary measurement and an approximation in one. Perhaps we should consider that something can be both a binary measurement and a reasonably accurate approximation of a spectrum.

Regardless, my earlier question stands. At what point is it acceptable for an approximation to not be accurate in detail? What's the acceptable level of error in approximations?

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Re:Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic by TuringTest on Thursday February 19, 2015 @03:06PM (#9076604)
> What's the acceptable level of error in approximations?

I'm fairly sure the lifes of those affected negatively by the error are outside the "acceptable level". We're talking about humans here, not mathematical rounding errors.

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Re:Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic by Kalium on Thursday February 19, 2015 @04:40PM (#9077275)
It seems your objection is not to approximations or the error inherent in them, but to what happens when people forget approximations are not reality. Is that correct?
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Re:Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic by nickff on Thursday February 19, 2015 @02:28PM (#9076332)
The 'two-sexes approximation' is boolean, not binary. Boolean involves two possible values; binary involves an infinite number of possible values, represented in base-2.[1][2]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary

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Re:Sex redefined: the idea of two sexes is simplistic by quadratical on Thursday February 19, 2015 @02:37PM (#9076406)
Not to be pedantic, but binary is entirely correct in this context. We aren't talking about computer science. Binary means relating to, composed of, or involving two things.

Boolean is simply a binary variable, having two possible values: true and false.

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