[ExI] difficult (?) puzzle

[Adrian Tymes]

On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 11:20 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> > *On Behalf Of *William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
>
> *Subject:* [ExI] difficult (?) puzzle
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> 'They say that a wise man can catch the wind in a net.'
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> For what is that a metaphor?
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> bill w
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> It is an over-specification BillW.  Any person, male or female, wise or
> other-wise (heh) for that matter any lifeform capable of wielding the
> device can catch the wind in a net.  Take one outside on a windy day, see
> it billow like a sail as it catches the wind.  The wind gets thru easily
> enough of course, but the word “catch” is over-constrained in this case.
>

"Man" is often gender-neutral in old sayings.  These days, with more
sensitivity to gender meanings (not to mention a greater understanding that
female people can have just as much agency as male people), we might say
"person", but in those olden times when they said "man", women were
included in what they meant.

The wise part comes from two understandings:
1) Even if most of the wind slips through a net, part of it is still
caught.  The unwise might think all of the wind slips through.
2) A "net" with thicker strands - a bag, or close enough - can catch the
wind with little to none of it slipping through.  The unwise are less
likely to think of this.
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