Month: June 2017 – י״ט בסיון תשע״ז

… There seems to be only one cause behind all forms of social misery: bigness. Oversimplified as this may seem, we shall find the idea more easily acceptable if we consider that bigness, or oversize, is really much more than just a social problem. It appears to be the one and only problem permeating all creation. Wherever something is wrong, something is too big.

If the stars in the sky or the atoms of uranium disintegrate in spontaneous explosion, it is not because their substance has lost its balance. It is because matter has attempted to expand beyond the impassable barriers set to every accumulation. Their mass has become too big. If the human body becomes diseased, it is, as in cancer, because a cell, or a group of cells, has begun to outgrow its allotted narrow limits.

And if the body of a people becomes diseased with the fever of aggression, brutality, collectivism, or massive idiocy, it is not because it has fallen victim to bad leadership or mental derangement. It is because human beings, so charming as individuals or in small aggregations, have been welded into overconcentrated social units, such as mobs, unions, cartels, or great powers. That is why they begin to slide into uncontrollable catastrophe.

― Leopold Kohr

This theory’s reach is “too big”.

Said George E. P. Box.

The Torah contains and/or has been described in many general principles, or “Klallim”. The rule in the title is true for Klallim in Shas and commentaries, other works, grammar, Pesak, etc.

In Hebrew, it’s sometimes called: טעות שימושית.

A truism from the same man:

Since all models are wrong the scientist cannot obtain a “correct” one by excessive elaboration. On the contrary following William of Occam he should seek an economical description of natural phenomena. Just as the ability to devise simple but evocative models is the signature of the great scientist so overelaboration and overparameterization is often the mark of mediocrity.

By the way, we referenced the above article in our free, special ebook on answering atheists. To receive the full Hebrew ebook, subscribe to Hyehudi’s Daily Newsletter here.

אמא נתנה לי מטבע

של עשר אגורות,

וכך אמרה לי: חשבי נא,

מה כדאי לך בהם לעשות.

אם אקנה לי בובה – היא תישבר,

אם אקנה לי סוכריה – היא תיגמר,

אז כדאי לי, כדאי לי לקנות,

אקנה בה כמה מצוות.

אחת שתים שלוש ארבע,

הכנסתי אותה לקופה

בשביל עני, בשביל מסכן,

צדקה אותה אתן.

אחת שתים שלוש ארבע,

הכנסתי אותה לקופה

בשביל עני, בשביל מסכן,

צדקה אותה אתן.

.שיר נפוץ בגני ילדים יהודים

“כל מה שאני צריך לדעת, כבר למדתי בגן.”