[extropy-chat] Re Fight for Evolution?

[Amara Graps]

Pete Bertine pkbertine at hotmail.com :
>My love of reading and writing was all consuming and I poured over
>advanced theory in physics from an early age, trying to make sense of
>the math. Again, sadly, I possessed no aptitude for mathematics.

"aptitude.." ? Did you try?

I failed calculus twice when I was 17 and 18. On the third time, with
a good teacher, I got As and Bs. Again for differential equations and
partial differential equations, I failed in the beginning. Again with
hard work and a good teacher I got As.

Sorry, but I don't buy the argument that one can't do math.
You didn't try.

Most of my Study Abroad students age 18-22 did not know how to
manipulate powers, or understand trigonometry, or use the ln, exp
functions on their calculators (and understand what it meant).
Expressions that had more then two variables gave them big headaches.

The first time I gave them a problem to calculate their weight on
Mars, they got it wrong. The second time I gave them a problem to
calculate their weight on Venus, 2/3 got it right. The third time I
gave them a problem to calculate their weight on a neutron star, they
all got it right.

>Part of the function of a rational mind is a desire to understand and
>control the environment around it.

"control" the environment?

>I consider a man to be inferior if he doesn't know how many cylinders
>his car engine has and a woman quaint if she thinks her $100 cell
>phone can blast a signal up to a satellite.  I judge people by some
>basic standards I have set up. I find very few people who reach those
>standards.

You are not going to convince people by insulting them.

Amara

-- 

Amara Graps, PhD
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI)
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF),
Adjunct Assistant Professor Astronomy, AUR,
Roma, ITALIA    Amara.Graps at ifsi-roma.inaf.it