If all technical knowledge was going to be lost tomorrow and you could only pass one thing on to the next generation what would it be?
Here's Richard Feynman's answer:
What would you pass on to the next generation?
I think it would have to be Bayes theorem which is in my opinion the prima ultima of rationality.
Here's Richard Feynman's answer:
Quote:I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied...
What would you pass on to the next generation?
I think it would have to be Bayes theorem which is in my opinion the prima ultima of rationality.
plato.stanford.edu Wrote:Bayes' Theorem is a simple mathematical formula used for calculating conditional probabilities. It figures prominently in subjectivist or Bayesian approaches to epistemology, statistics, and inductive logic. Subjectivists, who maintain that rational belief is governed by the laws of probability, lean heavily on conditional probabilities in their theories of evidence and their models of empirical learning. Bayes' Theorem is central to these enterprises both because it simplifies the calculation of conditional probabilities and because it clarifies significant features of subjectivist position. Indeed, the Theorem's central insight — that a hypothesis is confirmed by any body of data that its truth renders probable — is the cornerstone of all subjectivist methodology.
.
