Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2024 February 8

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Miscellaneous desk
< February 7 << Jan | February | Mar >> February 9 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


February 8[edit]

Anyone know this quote?[edit]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone knew who said, ‘Beware the moment you think yourself wise, for you may have just become a fool.’ I searched Wikiquote and Wikipedia, but nothing turned up.

Thanks, Shadestar474 (talk) 00:01, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Seems very similar but not exactly a passage from Corinthians in the Bible: [1] RudolfRed (talk) 01:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that’s it! Thank you, @RudolfRed. Shadestar474 (talk) 02:54, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can A and B be true at the same time, without C being true?[edit]

Can A and B be true at the same time, without C being true?
A-There is a list of things X, that if any of the things at this list X is happening, this means there is 100% chance Y is happening. List X have all such things that would mean there is 100% chance Y is happening, excluding Y itself.
B-Y is happening.
C-This means the list X has no items, or something from the list X is happening.
177.207.99.88 (talk) 01:44, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Y might be happening for a reason unrelated to the list in A, so C would be false. RudolfRed (talk) 01:58, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
A concrete counterexample. List X contains exactly one thing. It is: "there is an elephant in the room". Y is, "there is an elephant in the house". If there is an elephant in the room, there is certainly an elephant in the house. So if anything on list X is happening, this means that Y is happening: condition A is satisfied. Now, actually, there is indeed an elephant in the house, so condition B is satisfied, but it is in the hallway, not in the room. Now A and B are true, but since the elephant is not in the room, nothing on list X is happening, so C is false.  --Lambiam 12:17, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I see that you wrote, "List X have all such things that would mean there is 100% chance Y is happening." In giving my response above I overlooked the word "all". If X is comprehensive, containing truly everything that entails Y, then Y is itself one of the things on list X. So if B is satisfied and Y is happening, something on list X is happening – to wit, Y. In this interpretation of A, A and B together imply C.  --Lambiam 19:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Lambiam: You didn't miss the word "all". It was added after your reply. [2] RudolfRed (talk) 20:23, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I edited the text to fix a mistake (I assumed the text was clear enough to show that list X would have "all such things excluding Y",) and edited again to fix another mistake (exclude Y itself from the list X).177.207.99.88 (talk) 21:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
By the principle of explosion, any statement follows from a falsehood (such as "2 + 2 = 5"). Let Y be a true statement (such as "2 + 2 = 4") and let X consist of all (and only) false statements (such as "2 + 2 = 3", "2 + 2 = 5", "7 = 77", and so on). Since Y is true, it is not on list X. Yet every statement on X, being false, implies Y, so A is satisfied. Y is true, so B is satisfied. List X is not empty, and everything on X is false, so C is not satisfied. This contradicts that A and B together imply C.  --Lambiam 01:13, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]