One that comes to mind for me: "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is not always true. Maybe even only half the time! Are there any phrases you tend to hear and shake your head at?
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
317 points (97.3% liked)
Ask Lemmy
27240 readers
2216 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," It's like nails on a chalkboard every time I hear it. There is a very limited context where it may be applicable, but mostly it's used to give up trying or mock someone for failing a task. Have you never gotten better at something over time? Learned an instrument? Played a hard video game? Learned to ride a bike? It stops problem solving dead and kills motivation making it less than useless. Oh and its misattributed to Einstein like every other shitty quote
Same here. I thing it was a quote from a book or a movie. Some punchline that some character made sound funny and witty at a time but so many people insist to use it a the actual definition of insanity!
And very much the opposite of how many good things came to be - for example, inventors typically invent things with many failures first. Not 100% sure this is Thomas Edison but a quote attributed to him goes "I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps."
This is the direct opposite of the saying.
If you try 1000 different combinations of bulb design you are not doing the same thing over and over again. It would be insane to attempt to make a light bulb 1000 times out of the same exact material and design and expect a different outcome.
The entire point of the saying is learn from your failures. Make adjustments. Try something slightly different.
Yes, I think what you wrote is the point. But when he was actively inventing it and was trying it for the 900th time (with variance), I feel like that's exactly when someone would call that insanity. Because, to the outside world, it looks like he's just trying this thing over and over and expecting to make the light bulb happen, but it looks crazy to everyone else.
I was trying to point out that there may be more nuance going on than someone simply doing something over and over and expecting different results.