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Comment by saturn | Hacker News Reader

Your example, though "dumbed down", makes no sense to me at all.

What is a pet? It's a subordinate part of a larger whole. I would submit that the vast majority of men meet this description, where society is the larger group. Society demands a man gets out of bed and goes to work; against his sleeping instinct, man complies.

> a pure animalistic instinct of rage

I would like to think that my annoyance that good arguments did not seem to be carrying the day is more than dumb animal rage? If you heard a group of people agreeing that 1 + 1 = 3 then surely you'd also be guilty of an instinctive opposition. Something has to be true.

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>Society demands a man gets out of bed and goes to work; against his sleeping instinct, man complies.

The only case where society actually does demand a man to get out of bed is jail.

Usually, a man gets out of bed not because he is dragged out like a pet but because society offers something in return -- employment, company, money, food, purpose, etc. He can stay in his bed if he really wants to, or he can choose a more flexible schedule and wake up later, or wake up earlier.

It's a system of symbiosis; the man is making a fucking choice.

Regarding 1+1=3, there are several possibilities here:

a) The people are mathematicians, they redefined symbols and are playing around -- it would evoke curiosity in me.

b) The people are children and they're getting a rise out of you -- it would evoke amusement in me.

c) The people are deluded and insane -- it would evoke sympathy.

I don't see how these possibilities require anyone to get aggressive.

I like this example about the man and work.

Why does the man find value in what work gives him in return? Because he feels he needs those things, he can still make the choice not to get them but why would have this choice in the first place, why do those things appeal to him?

The same as how a dog will choose to jump when you train him to expect treats, he could just ignore it but someone he'll do it because treats taste good. Why they taste good is I believe something that is honed by evolution. (Same as how we like things with Fat in it. Fatty stuff taste good for a reason.)

> It's a system of symbiosis; the man is making a fucking choice.

Ridiculous. A "choice" between working and eating, or not working and not eating, is no choice at all. Hey, how about you choose to give me all your money and live, or you choose to get shot with my gun and die? Wow, symbiosis!

Thanks for providing some creative explanations for why people might propose that 1+1=3 but you have entirely missed my point. My point was that some things are demonstrable, objectively false and when people state them - as did a great grandparent of this thread - and are then thoroughly demonstrated to be completely wrong, they should have the basic decency to admit it, and pledge to not waste the group's time with such nonsense in future.

There is of course one grim possibility, which is that the OP was actually category 2 - a child, knowingly stating misinformation to "get a rise" - in which case I would really like you to both leave HN; there are plenty of sites for your lulzy trolling, it's not appreciated here.

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