Mark Rosenfelder > Quotes

“The other problem is redundancy isn't a bug, it's a feature.”
― Mark Rosenfelder, The Language Construction Kit

“...there's an inverse relationship between frequency and information content...It doesn't do you much good to understand 80% of the word in a sentence if the remaining 20% are the most important for understanding its meaning”
― Mark Rosenfelder, The Language Construction Kit

“This is the secret motor of science— scientists ideally highlight contrary evidence, and disdain a hypothesis that can’t be tested. The crackpot, by contrast, only looks for confirmation. He not only ignores or denies evidence against his theory, but modifies his theory such that it can never be disproved.”
― Mark Rosenfelder, The Planet Construction Kit

“as an English speaker, you have a very detailed and sophisticated analysis of syntax—and for the most part you can’t consciously access it.”
― Mark Rosenfelder, The Syntax Construction Kit

“ZINN: Well, you know, it would be manifestly difficult to believe in magic rings unless everyone was high on pipe-weed. So it is in Gandalf’s interest to keep Middle Earth hooked. CHOMSKY: How do you think these wizards build gigantic towers and mighty fortresses? Where do they get the money? Keep in mind that I do not especially regard anyone, Saruman included, as an agent for progressivism. But obviously the pipe-weed operation that exists is the dominant influence in Middle Earth. It’s not some ludicrous magic ring.”
― Mark Rosenfelder, The Planet Construction Kit

“A cute example from Rich Burlew’s online comic The Order of the Stick: a girl allied with the bad guys explains why she hangs out with the undead: Look, everyone knows that the undead are the antithesis of life, right? Except people are jerks. Lying, untrustworthy jackasses, every one of them. Everyone knows this, too. So logically, undead must be the opposite of that: caring, sensitive honest souls who are oppressed by the living majority and their negative stereotypes. It’s not deep— she is a comic strip character— but she has a reasonable motivation, something we can sympathize with.”
― Mark Rosenfelder, The Planet Construction Kit