I love that story about Aristotle, Heather. Trouble is, oftentimes people don't react well if you just prise their jaws open to count their teeth. When I was responsible for managing large business and IT projects, I often found myself in the position of asking myself "how do I know that?" and concluding that I wasn't all that confident that I really did. Consequently, I would set about investigating the situation to find out more - i.e. counting teeth. Unfortunately, this often meant asking other people "how do you know that?" and I found that asking someone this question three times in a row risks getting a finger in the eye (as nobody likes to have their ignorance pointed out to them)! Nonetheless - with suitable eye protection - I've found it an indispensable tool for navigating successfully through any situation in business, or in life.
David
--- In fast5@yahoogroups.
>
> Ditto that. It was one of the big "aha!" moments in my life when I realized
> that a person could just *test* some of these things, rather than trying to
> argue about them. There is a famous story about Aristotle:
>
> ------------
> Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was
> twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by
> examining his wives' mouths.
>
> Bertrand Russell, Impact of Science on Society (1952) ch. 1
> British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)
> ------------
>
> These days when people start ranking on me for something I'm doing, I don't
> argue. I just say "It's an experiment". Unless they can convincingly argue
> that my experiment is illegal, immoral, likely to kill me, or exceedingly
> bothersome to their workspace, it's not really their call to make. Offering
> to make a bet as to whether the experiment will work or not though is a fun
> way to handle it.
>
> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 3:06 PM, afastinglifestyle
> <thefastinglife@
>
> > "doesn't it make you wonder how much else we accept - on no real
> > evidence"...
> >
> > Paula
> > http://www.thefasti
> >
> > --- In fast5@yahoogroups.
> > >
> > > When something so basic, which so many people - even so-called experts -
> > > "know" to be true, turns out to be completely false when put to the test,
> > > doesn't it make you wonder how much else we accept - on no real evidence
> > -
> > > as "true" might be wrong? Living the "experiment of one" is a powerful
> > > route to knowledge, though we may not always want to find out what it
> > tells
> > > us.
> > >
> > > David
> > >
> > > On 4 May 2010 03:43, afastinglifestyle <thefastinglife@
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I joined a gym this past weekend and met with a personal trainer today.
> > We
> > > > had an interesting discussion about fasting and energy. In case you're
> > > > wondering how fasting might make you feel when you exercise, check out
> > my
> > > > personal experience in this post:
> > > >
> > > > http://www.thefasti
> > > >
> > > > Happy Fasting!!
> > > >
> > > > Paula
> > > > http://www.thefasti
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Heather Twist
>
> www.dunkers.
> Kraut: the easy way!
>
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