The ideal reasoner, would, when he had once been shown a single fact
in all its bearings, deduce from it not only the chain of events which
led up to it but also the results which would follow from it. As Cuvier
could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single
bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series
of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both
before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the reason
alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study which have
baffled all those who have sought a solution by aid of their senses. To
carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the
reasoner should be able to utilize all the facts which have come to his
knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a
possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education
and encyclopedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so
impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge which is
likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeavored in
my case to do.
-- Sherlock Holmes
in all its bearings, deduce from it not only the chain of events which
led up to it but also the results which would follow from it. As Cuvier
could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single
bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series
of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both
before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the reason
alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study which have
baffled all those who have sought a solution by aid of their senses. To
carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the
reasoner should be able to utilize all the facts which have come to his
knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a
possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education
and encyclopedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so
impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge which is
likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeavored in
my case to do.
-- Sherlock Holmes
Related:
- You see, I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty
attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose.
A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with alot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hands upon it.... - The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all eve
the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature.... - aga n.
[WPI] A cuspy but bogus raving story about N
random broken people.
Here is a classic example of the saga form, as told by Guy L.... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware, esp.
one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of feature.... - But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important
matter.
We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts.... - The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.... - TECO /tee'koh/ n.,v. obs.
1. [originally an acronym for
`[paper] Tape Editor and COrrector'
later, `Text Editor and COrrector'] n. A text editor developed at MIT and modified by just about everybody.... - DWIM /dwim/
[acronym, `Do What I Mean'] 1. adj. Able
to guess, sometimes even correctly, the result intended when bogus
input was provided.
2. n. obs. The BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to accomplish this feat by correcting many of the more common errors.... - They are fools that think that wealth or women or strong drink or even
drugs can buy the most in effort out of the soul of a man.
These things offer pale pleasures compared to that which is greatest of them all, that task which demands from him more than his utmost strength, that absorbs him, bone and sinew and brain and hope and fear and dreams -- and still calls for more....
