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Comment by antihipocrat | Hacker News Reader

Except I didn't raise the orthogonal point, you did by introducing wealth into the discussion.

My example demonstrated the orthogonal nature of your argument and that it doesn't hold true in all circumstances, and according to your criteria of only needing one example to disprove an assertion, then yours has been dispelled as well.

I'll add that I also dislike the adage 'only boring people get bored'. However I think there is some truth to it, perhaps a more accurate phrasing would be 'people who are always bored are boring people '

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Ok, imagine the original assertion was “All square numbers are even”.

I only need to introduce a specific example/constraint to disprove the original assertion: 1

My introduction of the example/constraint is directly relevant to disproving the original point. That is the whole point of introducing it, so it is absolutely not orthogonal.

If you then remove my constraint (1) and say: “but 4 and 16 can both be square numbers”: Sure you're not wrong, but that also has nothing to do with why I introduced my example in the first place, nor does it invalidate my example, and is thus completely orthogonal to proving/disproving the original point.

Yes, I understand the point and agree with the logic (of course). I still don't think the original statement has been dispelled.

A person 'doing boring things' isn't necessarily a bored person. The experience of being bored is entirely subjective. One person staring at paint dry could be driven insane but another could be meditating upon the physical experience of the passage of time.

The saying 'bored people are boring people' isn't supposed to be taken literally. It is as logically fallible as any other quip in English, I think the difference with this one is that it is used in a more directly negative and judgmental way (and often perceived as such by the recipient).

Sure, I think your characterisation of "people who are always bored are boring people" is much more credible! Thanks for the thoughts - I must return to doing the boring things I need to do today that I'm avoiding :)

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