The problem with binary thinking.

[Dottleshead ★]

[Ralphie ★]

So there are 10 things going on at once!

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

I can't decide - do I rate Dottles' post a 1 or a 0?

[Ralphie ★]

2 hours ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

I can't decide - do I rate Dottles' post a 1 or a 0?

Yup!  Eggzactly!

[Longjohn ★]

That must be why I haven’t seen any skunks this year. They are all hanging out down in skunk hollow smoking weed.

[MoseySusan]

12 hours ago, Dottles said:

This logical fallacy goes by many names: false dilemma, either/or fallacy, false dichotomy, binary choice fallacy, black-white fallacy... Many options to name the problem with thinking there can be only two options.

[maddmaxx ★]

4 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

This logical fallacy goes by many names: false dilemma, either/or fallacy, false dichotomy, binary choice fallacy, black-white fallacy... Many options to name the problem with thinking there can be only two options.

It all boils down to right or wrong, red or blue, up or down........and for bonus points purple or greens.

[Razors Edge ★]

15 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

This logical fallacy goes by many names: false dilemma, either/or fallacy, false dichotomy, binary choice fallacy, black-white fallacy... Many options to name the problem with thinking there can be only two options.

I like your effort here, but don't you think the comic's use of "someone" (which applies to humans), instead of "something" (which is much broader and can include animals and even humans) sort of ruins the comic and/or at least make the joke less true?

[MoseySusan]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

I like your effort here, but don't you think the comic's use of "someone" (which applies to humans), instead of "something" (which is much broader and can include animals and even humans) sort of ruins the comic and/or at least make the joke less true?

No. It's another level of "the unexpected," which is an element of humor. The person saying "someone" wouldn't expect an animal (skunk) to have the human trait of smoking marijuana. What a surprise! Joke's on them. That dramatic irony adds to the humor.

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, MoseySusan said:

No. It's another level of "the unexpected," which is an element of humor. The person saying "someone" wouldn't expect an animal (skunk) to have the human trait of smoking marijuana. What a surprise! Joke's on them. That dramatic irony adds to the humor.

Boy, things must be slow in the Southwest for that comic to "work"!

[jsharr ★]

28 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

This logical fallacy goes by many names: false dilemma, either/or fallacy, false dichotomy, binary choice fallacy, black-white fallacy... Many options to name the problem with thinking there can be only two options.

exactly.  that skunk may just like to roll his own cigarettes!  

[MoseySusan]

4 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Boy, things must be slow in the Southwest for that comic to "work"!

We have a lot of skunky-smelling plants out here in the high desert. It's pretty common to hear someone say "I smell pot, or a skunk is nearby." It's rare...downright abnormal to see a skunk smoking pot.

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, MoseySusan said:

We have a lot of skunky-smelling plants out here in the high desert. It's pretty common to hear someone say "I smell pot, or a skunk is nearby." It's rare...downright abnormal to see a skunk smoking pot.

If it has never happened, may never happened, but we can pretend it might happen, does it help "the problem with thinking there can be only two options" fallacy or hurt it? I feel like, we can always use magical thinking to discount "either A or B" arguments and add left field C arguments.  Sure, when you come to a T intersection, you need to choose left or right, but hey, for the fun of it, let's offer straight ahead through the building, a timely sinkhole opening up to take us down, a quick deploy ramp to let us go up, and heck, a U-turn to get us headed the other direction.  Of course, there remains the whole wormhole, teleportation, and even tractor beam options. 

Regardless, when my wife is driving and she asks me "Left or right at the T?", I BETTER answer in a very binary way!

[MoseySusan]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

does it help "the problem with thinking there can be only two options" fallacy or hurt it?

Yes, I see your point. The joke in this comic relies on "magical thinking," a completely fabricated world in which a skunk smokes a joint. 

Art can create magic, though.

It's still funny...not because it's true, but because it's ironic. 

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, MoseySusan said:

It's still funny...not because it's true, but because it's ironic. 

But not in the Alanis Morissette sort of way, eh?

[MoseySusan]

2 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

But not in the Alanis Morissette sort of way, eh?

No? Last I checked, "Alanis Morissette" was not listed among "Types of Irony" in the rhetorical devices canon.

[Rattlecan ★]

7 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

So there are 10 things going on at once!

01110000 01101111 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01111001

[MickinMD ★]

When I hear the term "binary thinking" I recall the "Binars" on Star Trek the Next Generation who, assigned to upgrade the Enterprize's computer, set it to automatically hijack the ship and go to their planet so they could upload their planets computer memories before the system was shut down for emergency repair.

They could only comprehend yes or no and no shades of gray so they didn't bother simply asking the Enterprize to help them, because they they couldn't estimate how conditions for that help might affect the outcome.

That's the one where Will Riker falls in love with "Minuet," a holodeck character, beautiful and sultry, created by the Binars to distract him.  After the Binars left, he could never recreate her and said on future episodes, "I once fell in love in the holodeck."

 

[jsharr ★]