Post #1675296
2026-04-25 22:25 UTC
Overall his idea of a new curriculum still holds in my opinion, but most of the difficulties stem from students having a hard time realising they are manipulating symbols and nothing else (there is no effect when manipulating a symbol, it means nothing until we give some semantics).
Replies (1)
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@nico@mastodon.puffer.fish 2026-04-25 22:27
I think it is hard because it highlights the uselessness of most things in life: we often act expecting certain behaviours. We give semantics to our actions before even doing the actions as to give us faith or something, when in fact, it's mostly a nothing burger (WARNING: DO NOT FALL INTO NIHILISM OR ABSURDISM AS A LIFESTYLE). People do not want to do stuff without a reason, what is manipulating algebraic symbols good for?