5 ms·

FWIW, Bill Warner's PhD is in math & physics.

by fractaled 10y ago

adictator 10y ago
Yes, that's correct. Not sure what your point is.
- ajkjk 10y ago
  Obviously it is that he has no special authority on this subject.
  - adictator 10y ago
    Ah, as opposed to the wikipedia authors? According to you they had a special authority on this subject, never mind any bias?
    - jacobolus 10y ago
      With 20–40 minutes of effort, someone could easily track down a large pile of peer-reviewed scholarly literature examining the contributions of Arab, Persian, Seljuk, etc. mathematicians and scientists of 800–1600 CE, and putting it in historical / scientific context. But I doubt you really care much, or you would do the same searching for yourself. So it’s not worth the time.
      - adictator 10y ago
        If I didn't care then I would not have made the post. And that goes the same for you. I think you're making this a battle between who is right - you or me. For me it is a battle between what is truth and what is a blatant lie. For me it is an anomaly that Islam rose in the desert and has always been a catalyst for death, destruction and chaos, yet suddenly there was this golden period with scientific accomplishments etc, and again suddenly all that vanished until this very day! That's a bit too much for my logical mind to accept. Maybe it is the nature of the people living in the harsh environment or maybe because Islam is the youngest of the Abrahamic religions - either way, people generally are giving Islam a free pass and not examining the inconsistencies in this narrative leading up to the Islamic Golden Age. For me it seems this was a great way for Islam to show that even though there are problems, they have had a great & tolerant past that was rich with scientific advancements. And we are naively consuming & being fed all that as the undeniable truth.
    - ajkjk 10y ago
      No, they're probably equally lacking authority. But you cited the PhD as a better authority, when he clearly wasn't, so you sound ridiculous.
      - adictator 10y ago
        It seems you agree with me, yet you think I sound ridiculous. Did we move away from my original topic and are we now arguing solely about wikipedia being a good source for anything or on par with a PhD? My point was that a PhD is in any case in a better position to make a proper & logical argument as opposed to many edits that general people make to wikipedia articles to suit their narrative. Heck, even I am guilty of that & my edits in wikipedia are still intact after ~6 years. Additionally, the source (one of many) is a video with a face, not an anonymous edit made by a group somewhere somehow & it seems you're getting very personal / insecure about it. I would like to say "Grow up, dude", but that would be impolite.
        ajkjk 10y ago
        No, I don't have an opinion on your weirdly anti-Islam point, but your way of arguing it is disingenuous and unconvincing and it sounds like you have to resort to cherry-picking and touting up obscure sources to support it, so it's probably false. I just chimed in to criticize the way you argued, in hopes that it would go away. When you said "look here's a guy with a Phd", pretending like his expertise was relevant, and then someone said that his PhD wasn't in a relevant field, you played dumb and wrote "Yes, that's correct. Not sure what your point is.", as though you couldn't perceive that citing someone as an expert when they're not makes you sound obviously uncredible. "I would like to say "Grow up, dude", but that would be impolite." I'm not sure what would lead you to think it's somehow more polite to talk about saying something like that than actually saying, but, it's definitely not. You don't sound mature for pretending to exercise restraint.
        adictator 10y ago
        So who is an expert in your opinion? Obviously a PhD who can be trusted to infer objectively from facts does not make the cut in your eyes. Who gave you the moral policing authority to call anybody disingenuous etc. I'm sorry if you are a muslim & I ruffled your feathers a bit. But be a sport and see it for what it is. Stop judging people just because they have a thought or idea that is different from yours, never mind opposing yours. "weirdly anti-Islam"?? - Damn! Say one word against Islam and people are so defensive. No wonder we have so many problems in this world with kids trying to act like they know it all.
    - arjie 10y ago
      Wikipedia is an aggregator not a source. It's like HN, a useful place to find links to where reputable people have said things.

FWIW, Bill Warner's PhD is in math & physics.

adictator 10y ago

Yes, that's correct. Not sure what your point is.

ajkjk 10y ago
Obviously it is that he has no special authority on this subject.
- adictator 10y ago
  Ah, as opposed to the wikipedia authors? According to you they had a special authority on this subject, never mind any bias?
  - jacobolus 10y ago
    With 20–40 minutes of effort, someone could easily track down a large pile of peer-reviewed scholarly literature examining the contributions of Arab, Persian, Seljuk, etc. mathematicians and scientists of 800–1600 CE, and putting it in historical / scientific context. But I doubt you really care much, or you would do the same searching for yourself. So it’s not worth the time.
    - adictator 10y ago
      If I didn't care then I would not have made the post. And that goes the same for you. I think you're making this a battle between who is right - you or me. For me it is a battle between what is truth and what is a blatant lie. For me it is an anomaly that Islam rose in the desert and has always been a catalyst for death, destruction and chaos, yet suddenly there was this golden period with scientific accomplishments etc, and again suddenly all that vanished until this very day! That's a bit too much for my logical mind to accept. Maybe it is the nature of the people living in the harsh environment or maybe because Islam is the youngest of the Abrahamic religions - either way, people generally are giving Islam a free pass and not examining the inconsistencies in this narrative leading up to the Islamic Golden Age. For me it seems this was a great way for Islam to show that even though there are problems, they have had a great & tolerant past that was rich with scientific advancements. And we are naively consuming & being fed all that as the undeniable truth.
  - ajkjk 10y ago
    No, they're probably equally lacking authority. But you cited the PhD as a better authority, when he clearly wasn't, so you sound ridiculous.
    - adictator 10y ago
      It seems you agree with me, yet you think I sound ridiculous. Did we move away from my original topic and are we now arguing solely about wikipedia being a good source for anything or on par with a PhD? My point was that a PhD is in any case in a better position to make a proper & logical argument as opposed to many edits that general people make to wikipedia articles to suit their narrative. Heck, even I am guilty of that & my edits in wikipedia are still intact after ~6 years. Additionally, the source (one of many) is a video with a face, not an anonymous edit made by a group somewhere somehow & it seems you're getting very personal / insecure about it. I would like to say "Grow up, dude", but that would be impolite.
      - ajkjk 10y ago
        No, I don't have an opinion on your weirdly anti-Islam point, but your way of arguing it is disingenuous and unconvincing and it sounds like you have to resort to cherry-picking and touting up obscure sources to support it, so it's probably false. I just chimed in to criticize the way you argued, in hopes that it would go away. When you said "look here's a guy with a Phd", pretending like his expertise was relevant, and then someone said that his PhD wasn't in a relevant field, you played dumb and wrote "Yes, that's correct. Not sure what your point is.", as though you couldn't perceive that citing someone as an expert when they're not makes you sound obviously uncredible. "I would like to say "Grow up, dude", but that would be impolite." I'm not sure what would lead you to think it's somehow more polite to talk about saying something like that than actually saying, but, it's definitely not. You don't sound mature for pretending to exercise restraint.
        adictator 10y ago
        So who is an expert in your opinion? Obviously a PhD who can be trusted to infer objectively from facts does not make the cut in your eyes. Who gave you the moral policing authority to call anybody disingenuous etc. I'm sorry if you are a muslim & I ruffled your feathers a bit. But be a sport and see it for what it is. Stop judging people just because they have a thought or idea that is different from yours, never mind opposing yours. "weirdly anti-Islam"?? - Damn! Say one word against Islam and people are so defensive. No wonder we have so many problems in this world with kids trying to act like they know it all.
  - arjie 10y ago
    Wikipedia is an aggregator not a source. It's like HN, a useful place to find links to where reputable people have said things.