Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with concepts

What are the simple concepts that have most helped you understand the world?

lunchbox — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:03:12 -0800

What are the simple concepts that have most helped you understand the world? Looking back on my education, I find there are a few simple concepts I learned that contributed more to my understanding of the world than everything else combined.

For example, when I was young I thought of many stock market investment schemes that seemed to guarantee me a profit. I attempted to prove these profits mathematically. Then I took a class on economic asset pricing and learned the principle of "no free lunch": if some investment is guaranteed to beat the markets, then someone else will already have tried it, and will have skimmed any profits to be made. This principle is remarkable because it allows you to abstract away so much complex mathematics into one simple question.

What are some other simple but powerful principles -- like the golden rule, or the fundamental theorem of calculus -- that make the world's workings so much simpler once you understand them? (Note: these rules don't have to apply 100% of the time -- in fact, there are circumstances in which the above "no free lunch" principle doesn't hold.) I'm interested in any field, from pure science to human relationships.

Good examples of intercultural communications based on ideograms or common concepts?

Bio11 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:13:04 -0800

Good examples of intercultural communications based on ideograms or common concepts? I'm not working in this field and I need very comprehensive examples, or descriptive experiments. I'm wondering what kind of grammar would be involved between an english and a mandarin speaker, for instance. Regarding the vocabulary used, what would be a bare minimum (In term of quantity and precision?)
Online resources arewelcome, of course. Thanks.

Replacing my favorite thesaurus now that it's more "efficient"?

Gucky — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:03:53 -0800

Recommendations for a good, verbose online thesaurus for wandering through words? thesaurus.com seems to have changed how they serve search results and my working style is screwed. I use thesaurus.com for hours a day. Their overly detailed results, as well as weird and obscure words that aren't even defined on dictionary.com, were perfect for the way I work (in naming).

I take a few days off, however, and "smart" has 8 results? I used to get pages of entries that were even vaguely related to smart, allowing me to travel interesting pathways and ideas.

I've tried Merriam-Webster's thesaurus and it works the limited and terrible way thesaurus.com does - great for the practical writer, not so great for a word wanderer. onelook.com is great for some applications, but their "limit to a specific concept" is wonky at best. Paper thesauri(?) are fairly useless for this purpose. Word Menu is a little more useful, but limited and slow, as I'm quicker with a mouse than paper.

Are there any tools that work in that wander and get lost way, particularly with a lot of words? Is there some way to get the way-too-prolific results from thesaurus.com again?

The Protagonist: An Overview

0bvious — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 22:16:33 -0800

The Protagonist: What can you tell me? I am fascinated by the concept of 'The Protagonist'. Whether this be in fiction, mythology or used as a metaphor for how one perceives oneself (your 'life' being the narrative within which you exist) I desire a few new angles on this ancient human construct.

- Do you know of any theories / research / writings on the protagonist?
- What books / movies / myths etc. have you come across from which a protagonist is COMPLETELY absent?
- Or any such fiction/mythology with an interesting spin on the traditional protagonist?

Basically anything which comes to mind would be fascinating, thanks a lot...

Dissociating Mental Imagery?

vanoakenfold — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:51:56 -0800

Any advice on how to mentally dissociate two conflicting concepts, in self? Back in the day I used to.. jostle the elders, as it were ..and upon conclusion imagine a specific deed being committed. Now being absolutely uninterested in performing such a deed in all rationale, I unintentionally and consistently associate attraction for women with the deed and filter attraction for gals partially based on whether performing it would be easier or more difficult. Any advice on how to seperate attraction and the ? I have avoided romantic relationships in pursuit of eliminating this idea first, safeguarding too strong of a temptation. In reverse, I am relaxed by thinking of this deed, in a bad way. Any non-"so tell me about your mother" suggestions?

Can something be both "annual" and "all year?"

djacobs — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:40:01 -0800

Can something be both "annual" and "all year?" Say, hypothetically, an on-line film festival that runs all year but is refreshed with new films annually?