Some school help needed

I have to come up with an idea that I know that I know.

I plan on saying that I know that my computer processes applications faster when I overclock my cpu and gpu.

But how do I know that I know this?

Can you offer me any advice? This is a question with no right or true answer, so I'm looking for different responses. Try to think of reasons that don't involve observation. Please justify your answer.

Thanks

invisible hand said:

This is a question with no right or true answer, so I'm looking for different responses. Try to think of reasons that don't involve observation. Please justify your answer.

Thanks

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!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I would say bench marking but that is a form of observation so your only answers would be: "because I say so."

I'm personally thinking of something along the lines of...."I made an error at some point, so I adjusted my previous idea and modified it to something I thought was better".....but I don't know what to think, I'm confused.

Find two computers that are exactly the same. Same components ,programs etc.. Overclock one of them and leave the other one at stock. Then bench them with the exact same bench program(s).

Why don't you prove it mathematically? More cycles per second equals...

If I were you, I would ask Nihili for some advice on this one. It sounds like you will have to do something based on yourself. For example:

I know that my below my shoulders hair is a chick magent because when I let it out before I enter a bar all I have to do is stand somewhere visible and I get more than my fair share of attention from the ladies. This does not happen if I keep it in my regular ponytail. But that is good for me to know and useless for you (unless you have a ponytail also ;--) )

Malpine Walis said:

I know that my below my shoulders hair is a chick magent because when I let it out before I enter a bar all I have to do is stand somewhere visible and I get more than my fair share of attention from the ladies. This does not happen if I keep it in my regular ponytail. But that is good for me to know and useless for you (unless you have a ponytail also ;--) )

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LOL! When I first started reading that, I thought to myself "Why would someone get more chicks by showing off their armpit hair?"

As for proving that your computer processes things faster, just use benchmark utilities. pcmark, 3dmark, sisoft sandra.

The correct answer is "I know that I think".

You must be taking a philosophy class and are about to read Descartes.

You know that you think because it's impossible for you to correctly doubt it. Even doubting is a form of thinking. Descartes goes on to argue that since he thinks, he must exist. Obviously, if he didn't exist, he couldn't think.

Another possiblity is that you know "all bachelors are male". This depends on whether your assignment is to come up with an idea that you know, or one that you know that you know.

There are more sophisticated answers than these (see G.E. Moore for some examples) but these are the basics.

Whoa, nihili, thats deep, makes you look onto yourself. Philosphy amazes me right next to psychology, I love how the mind works. w00t

well, various ways of knowing if your overclocking or not is, heat, speed, math, stabability, benchmarks, and you know by jsut knowing based on those results. Such as, OC'ed, comp won't turn on, hence you had to reset the CMOS, and try again with different settings. I dunno, add lots of info. I don't knwo if it's truely philosophy your doing, or just for a regular english report, but either way, just write whatever comes to your mind.

Trust me, as the top writer in my class, its all about adding pretty words, lots of adjectives, and sound like your KNOW what the hell your talking about better than anyone else.

If your teacher is worth paying attention to the ignore N1vek215's advice. Apart from that, I knew that nihili would come through for you.

Nihili: since you do not have hair, is the beard a chick magnet?

Malpine Walis said:

Nihili: since you do not have hair, is the beard a chick magnet?

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I seem to be suffering from a case of reversed polarity.

nihili said:

The correct answer is "I know that I think".

You must be taking a philosophy class and are about to read Descartes.

You know that you think because it's impossible for you to correctly doubt it. Even doubting is a form of thinking. Descartes goes on to argue that since he thinks, he must exist. Obviously, if he didn't exist, he couldn't think.

Another possiblity is that you know "all bachelors are male". This depends on whether your assignment is to come up with an idea that you know, or one that you know that you know.

There are more sophisticated answers than these (see G.E. Moore for some examples) but these are the basics.

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Thanks for all of your help.

nihili,

Your response mirrors my seminar well. This class is titled "The Methodology of Social Sciences." It's a fourth year Economics class.

The assignment is to explain something that I know that I know.

Your statement that "all bachelors are male" is interesting because it's universal statement. Now, if I asked you how, you know that you know this, what would you say? Would you simply reply that this must be, by definition? or do you have a different response?

I have found that universal statements are problamatic because it is impossible to observe an infinite population (implied by "all"), such as 'all' swans are white.

once again, thanks for all of your help.

OMG the semantics!! Its ripping my mind appart like a black hole eating a star!!

invisible hand said:

Thanks for all of your help.

nihili,

Your response mirrors my seminar well. This class is titled "The Methodology of Social Sciences." It's a fourth year Economics class.

The assignment is to explain something that I know that I know.

Your statement that "all bachelors are male" is interesting because it's universal statement. Now, if I asked you how, you know that you know this, what would you say? Would you simply reply that this must be, by definition? or do you have a different response?

I have found that universal statements are problamatic because it is impossible to observe an infinite population (implied by "all"), such as 'all' swans are white.

once again, thanks for all of your help.

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And yet, universal statements are the stuff of science, as witness the law of gravity.

"All bachelors are male" is what is often called an analytic statement. It's true in virtue of it's meaning. It's also a priori - able to be known without reference to experience. These distinctions are due to Kant and are generally well accepted despite Quine's rejection of them in Two Dogmas of Empiricism.

Still they aren't quite as certain as Descartes' "I think".

nihili said:

I seem to be suffering from a case of reversed polarity.

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Try standing on your head?

nihili said:

And yet, universal statements are the stuff of science, as witness the law of gravity.

"All bachelors are male" is what is often called an analytic statement. It's true in virtue of it's meaning. It's also a priori - able to be known without reference to experience. These distinctions are due to Kant and are generally well accepted despite Quine's rejection of them in Two Dogmas of Empiricism.

Still they aren't quite as certain as Descartes' "I think".

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nihili,
Are you familiar with the ideas of karl popper. If so how do you think he would respond to “all bachelors are male” Our class seems to be structured on many of his ideas, so if you have any comments I would appreciate them.

Also, one of the required readings is “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” Have you read this book?

N1vek215 said:

Trust me, as the top writer in my class, its all about adding pretty words, lots of adjectives, and sound like your KNOW what the hell your talking about better than anyone else.

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N1vek215,

This strategy might catch up to you. It seems like you have become master of a game. You have discovered all the rules and as a result you are winning (in the eyes of your teachers).

In my experience I have found that those who mechanical reproduce facts and add fluff don't actually learn anything except how to pander to the prescribed methods of teaching, and in many ways these methods are flawed. I have always been a mediocre writer, with interesting ideas. Thankfully, my fiancé is a communications major, or my ideas may never be seen through all the red marks.

N1vek215, do what you need to get good grades but just remember to learn along the way.

It always irritates me when a fellow student earns a 90%+ grade, when they never criticize the material we are being presented with. Some of this material makes ridiculous assumptions. These students simply learn how to mechanically reproduce the material, if you ask them to explain in words what is happening they are at a loss to reproduce a response, except for the response that the 'teacher said'......I suppose these are the "yes" people that businesses prefer. It just seems like a shame to spend 4 years to simply obtain credits.

invisible hand said:

nihili,
Are you familiar with the ideas of karl popper. If so how do you think he would respond to “all bachelors are male” Our class seems to be structured on many of his ideas, so if you have any comments I would appreciate them.

Also, one of the required readings is “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” Have you read this book?

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Yes, I'm familiar with Popper. Popper would respond that "all bachelors are male" is not a statement of science, but is rather a definition. He'll treat it as a posit or axiom, and hence it won't be subject to his treatment of scientific claims.

Popper had some good stuff, and it's still very influential today. But most philosophers of science have gone beyond that and now recognize his stance as inadequate. A very good article in this regard is chapter 2 of The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science. The whole book is first rate, but that article does a good job of setting out the relevant issues regarding Popper. It should be quite relevant to the class you're in.

Yes, I've read Pirsig. It's a good book and very thought provoking. As a novel it's excellent. However it's just a novel. It doesn't really set out a complete theory.

it's pure math! a 100mhz proc is slower than a 1ghz proc because it reads 10times as fast as the 100mhz...aimply show the math, you oc a 1.5ghz to 2ghz, you allowed your proc to run 500mhz faster