More of a good thing does not mean better. Capitalism built America. But more and more unregulated capitalistic activity could destroy America.
What do you think?
More of a good thing does not mean better. Capitalism built America. But more and more unregulated capitalistic activity could destroy America.
What do you think?
Hi Milton!
So I’m wondering if I missed the non-addivity lessons in my readings of general semantics material.
I get the sense from this posting that additivity seems to be the belief that adding means improving, and that non-additivity is the corrective believe that adding does not necessarily mean improving … with the caveat that adding can actually be harmful or problematic.
Do I understand correctly?
Ben
I would say “Yes” generally speaking.
Non-additivity is a generalization related to the mathematical notions of “linearity”, and “non-linearity”. Put simply: 1 + 1 in ordinary arithmetic = 2. 2 is more than 1. But life is not an additive affair just as 1 + -1 = 0. More of something sometimes results in less. (More explanation, more information, could result in less understanding. More direction could result in confusion. More light might not result in clearer seeing but could result in blindness. Driving faster we might not reach our destination quicker.) See index of Science and Sanity, Fifth Ed. especially pages 171-172.