Go Back   Flash Flash Revolution: Community Forums > General Discussion > Critical Thinking
Register FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-29-2004, 03:21 AM   #1
Kilgamayan
Super Scooter Happy
FFR Simfile Author
 
Kilgamayan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Location, Location.
Age: 36
Posts: 6,584
Send a message via AIM to Kilgamayan
Default Interesting thought about the half full/empty water glass

You all know the phrase about how "The optimist says the glass is half full, the pessimist says it's half empty, and the engineer says it's a good thing he put half his water in a redundant glass".

I was lying in bed thinking about this, and I realized that when I'm thirsty, I want a lot of liquid in the glass to make sure I'm not thristy anymore when I'm done. If I come across my glass and find it's half empty/full, I'm going to be unhappy. I could say "Damn, it's only half full." But that sounds pessimistic to me. If I were an optimist, I'd probably say "Well, at least it's only *half* empty."

Suddenly the roles are reversed. Pessimism says half-full, optimism says half-empty.

Discuss.
__________________
I watched clouds awobbly from the floor o' that kayak. Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies, an' tho' a cloud's shape nor hue nor size don't stay the same, it's still a cloud an' so is a soul. Who can say where the cloud's blowed from or who the soul'll be 'morrow? Only Sonmi the east an' the west an' the compass an' the atlas, yay, only the atlas o' clouds.
Kilgamayan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2004, 01:40 PM   #2
dontcareaboutmyid
FFR Player
 
dontcareaboutmyid's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Wisconsin, Close to Canada
Age: 34
Posts: 2,103
Send a message via MSN to dontcareaboutmyid Send a message via Yahoo to dontcareaboutmyid
Default

I don't think along those lines. I think either I need to finish my drink or get a refill. Either way it leads to more drinking

Anything can be switched around its all in the wording
dontcareaboutmyid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2004, 03:45 PM   #3
chardish
Environmentally Friendly
Retired StaffFFR Veteran
 
chardish's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: In transit
Age: 34
Posts: 6,929
Default

Neutral responses:
1) The glass is twice as large as it needs to be.
2) The liquid in the glass occupies 50% of the glass's maximum capacity.
chardish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2004, 08:57 PM   #4
evilbutterfly
FFR Player
 
evilbutterfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Small town, TN
Age: 33
Posts: 5,784
Default

what i say depends on how the glass got that way. when filling, i will say to fill it half full, and a fresh glass with only half in it will be referred to as half full by me (my wording sucks, oh well). however, if the glass was completely filled, and i drink it down halfway, i say it's half empty. does that make any sense at all??
__________________
So I've gone completely slack-ass and haven't done any work on creating games. =(

In less-depressing news, I got a job for an online business (which sells non-electronic games, of all things!) which has taught me a lot about marketing online and all that jazz.

So now I'm on Twitter @NoahWright.
And I write the blog for their website.

Plus I do cool programming in-house that you'll never see. =O
evilbutterfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-1-2004, 05:52 PM   #5
IronMonk
FFR Player
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 155
Default

direction of change dictates wordage, makes sence to me.

The liquid in the glass fails to occupy 50% of the glass's maximum capacity.

then again if you were a pyrrhonist the glass doesnt exis, the water doesnt exist, you only appear to be thirsty, you dont exist, i dont exist, and there is no way you can prove any of it.
__________________
Towles may be harmfull when swallowed in large quantities
IronMonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-1-2004, 06:09 PM   #6
Auranceus
FFR Player
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: New England, USA
Posts: 9
Send a message via AIM to Auranceus Send a message via MSN to Auranceus Send a message via Yahoo to Auranceus
Default

Well, even if it is half full/empty doesnt that mean that the other half is full of something? air maybe? maybe even WATER vapor? did you ever think of that?
Auranceus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-1-2004, 06:50 PM   #7
evilbutterfly
FFR Player
 
evilbutterfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Small town, TN
Age: 33
Posts: 5,784
Default

what's to say that anything can be empty?? is empty space empty, or is it just some undiscovered building block of life? people once thought that air was nothing, but we know now that they were wrong. u never know...
__________________
So I've gone completely slack-ass and haven't done any work on creating games. =(

In less-depressing news, I got a job for an online business (which sells non-electronic games, of all things!) which has taught me a lot about marketing online and all that jazz.

So now I'm on Twitter @NoahWright.
And I write the blog for their website.

Plus I do cool programming in-house that you'll never see. =O
evilbutterfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-1-2004, 11:31 PM   #8
Laharl
FFR Player
 
Laharl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Age: 35
Posts: 1,821
Send a message via AIM to Laharl Send a message via MSN to Laharl
Default

It depends on whether the glass is being filled or being emptied. If it's being filled, it's half-full. If it's being emptied, it's half-empty.

Therefore, when someone stumbles upon a drinking glass that is at 50% capacity, they think "half-empty" because most likely, it was full at one point and was drunk to that level.
__________________
SIG PICTURES:

POINTLESSLY TAKING UP BANDWIDTH SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE INTERNET
Laharl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 01:37 AM   #9
evilbutterfly
FFR Player
 
evilbutterfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Small town, TN
Age: 33
Posts: 5,784
Default

unless of course it's next to the fridge or the sink or some place where it would have been filled. kinda like if the car is going into the station u would say the tank is half-empty, and if they're leaving you'd say it's half-full
__________________
So I've gone completely slack-ass and haven't done any work on creating games. =(

In less-depressing news, I got a job for an online business (which sells non-electronic games, of all things!) which has taught me a lot about marketing online and all that jazz.

So now I'm on Twitter @NoahWright.
And I write the blog for their website.

Plus I do cool programming in-house that you'll never see. =O
evilbutterfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 07:49 AM   #10
RobbyZero
FFR Player
 
RobbyZero's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Canada
Age: 33
Posts: 4,613
Default

Depends who you are and how you were brought up to say it.

Half Empty would = After someone has drank half of it from being full.
Half Full would = Someone poured it only half way.
RobbyZero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 09:06 AM   #11
talisman
Resident Penguin
FFR Simfile AuthorFFR Veteran
 
talisman's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003
Age: 34
Posts: 4,598
Send a message via AIM to talisman
Default

indeed, the phrasings should be changed to half-emptied and half-filled to clarify things.
talisman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 10:37 AM   #12
evilbutterfly
FFR Player
 
evilbutterfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Small town, TN
Age: 33
Posts: 5,784
Default

hey, that makes sense. i always thought the half-full half-empty question was poop, and it seems we all agree that it's no way to see if some1 is an optimist or not.
__________________
So I've gone completely slack-ass and haven't done any work on creating games. =(

In less-depressing news, I got a job for an online business (which sells non-electronic games, of all things!) which has taught me a lot about marketing online and all that jazz.

So now I'm on Twitter @NoahWright.
And I write the blog for their website.

Plus I do cool programming in-house that you'll never see. =O
evilbutterfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 01:57 PM   #13
DracIV
FFR Player
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 298
Default

Well, it is possible that it might measure optimist or pessimist. Given no extra information, the assumption could be that an optimist will always see things as going up, or getting better, while the pessimist would always see things going down, or getting worse. So the optimist would automatically think it was filling (half-full) and the pessimist would automatically think it was emptying (half-empty). I don't think it works, but there is some logic behind it.
DracIV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 02:03 PM   #14
fusi0n
FFR Player
 
fusi0n's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Age: 32
Posts: 2,158
Send a message via AIM to fusi0n
Default

you know when i was in korea, we drank out of bowls a lot.
__________________
fusi0n is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-2-2004, 06:02 PM   #15
evilbutterfly
FFR Player
 
evilbutterfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Small town, TN
Age: 33
Posts: 5,784
Default

man, i'd waste all my drink doing that...
__________________
So I've gone completely slack-ass and haven't done any work on creating games. =(

In less-depressing news, I got a job for an online business (which sells non-electronic games, of all things!) which has taught me a lot about marketing online and all that jazz.

So now I'm on Twitter @NoahWright.
And I write the blog for their website.

Plus I do cool programming in-house that you'll never see. =O
evilbutterfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-4-2004, 10:09 PM   #16
IronMonk
FFR Player
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 155
Default

way to go fusion for completley destroying any remaining critical though in this tread.

*applauds*

go home,

i suppose you could test the pessimist optimist but presenting them with a glass at 50% capacity and without prior knowlage of its previous state of occupation be forced to say either half full or half empty.
__________________
Towles may be harmfull when swallowed in large quantities
IronMonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-4-2004, 10:11 PM   #17
RobbyZero
FFR Player
 
RobbyZero's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Canada
Age: 33
Posts: 4,613
Default

Quote:
i suppose you could test the pessimist optimist but presenting them with a glass at 50% capacity and without prior knowlage of its previous state of occupation be forced to say either half full or half empty.
Like I had mentioned before. It all depends on the situation. You would have to know if it was poured purposely half way or it had been drank to half a glass. You would have to know to make sense. That proves they are infact both correct there is no wrong answer,just a little confusion maybe.
RobbyZero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-4-2004, 10:18 PM   #18
IronMonk
FFR Player
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 155
Default

thus for the means of testing you wouldnt tell them its previos filling.

and yes it is both correct
__________________
Towles may be harmfull when swallowed in large quantities
IronMonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-4-2004, 10:20 PM   #19
RobbyZero
FFR Player
 
RobbyZero's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Canada
Age: 33
Posts: 4,613
Default

Well looks like killed this topic. Too bad we got that so quick eh.
RobbyZero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-5-2004, 02:13 AM   #20
peregrine
FFR Player
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 122
Send a message via AIM to peregrine
Default

very off topic, but amusing-

drinking out of bowls is awesome... I drank vodka out of a bowl once and it was the best vodka had ever tasted. Seriously, almost bordering on good.
peregrine is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:27 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright FlashFlashRevolution