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How to write in Cuneiform

(www.openculture.com)
100 points PaulHoule | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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DecoPerson ◴[] No.45534322[source]
Good stuff, but this has triggered my pet peeve! The title should be:

    How to Write in Cuneiform, the Oldest Known Writing System in the World
The added word being: KNOWN

You can argue that, "well, obviously!" but correctness and exactness are what makes science, history, journalism, etc good, and allowing incorrectness like this is a step backwards.

I read a history book when I was a teenager (can't remember which one, unfortunately), and the author wrote a preface that said something along the lines of "Everything in this book is based on the published information I could discover during my research period of April to September 1999. I have chosen to write in absolutes--stating many things as certain and clear--but in reality there is still much we do not know about this time period. No history author should say their writing is fact and any good historian will make it clear that their work is composed of assumptions layered on assumptions. Please read these works with this in mind."

If you don't have a preface like that, you should add "known" to your title/sentence! I will argue with someone all day over this! I will die on this hill!

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1. tshaddox ◴[] No.45534817[source]
> If you don't have a preface like that, you should add "known" to your title/sentence! I will argue with someone all day over this! I will die on this hill!

Of course, if you’re a fallibilist you believe that it’s always possible that you’re making a mistake. It seems unnecessary to always add “unless I am mistaken,” because that hedge always applies.

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2. keiferski ◴[] No.45535652[source]
In principle I agree with you, but in practice people really seem to forget this basic premise of science and jump right to the “that’s how it is,” stage. So I think it’s helpful to continually remind ourselves that this enterprise is a skeptical one.