Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with heuristics

That is the question.

ageispolis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:43:50 -0800

What is a good heuristic for the usage of 'that'? I am not referring to the distinction between 'that' and 'which', but its broader conjunctive and connective use.

I find myself overusing the word, and instead of deciding whether I should omit it or not in the editing process, it'd be great if I could learn to only use it when necessary.

Any ideas?

Heuristics and Morality

not sure this is a good idea — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:53:11 -0800

Any pointers to books/people/readers/papers on heuristics in morality? [Background: I believe most people make moral decisions based on heuristics that they have picked up from their cultural environment. There's a paper showing why this is not always such a good idea here. I am also somewhat sceptical of most ethical theories. In my experience, with practical problems in a complex world, you can justify almost anything by picking a sympathetic logical frame for the issue. So rather than discarding heuristics, I'd like to know what a good heuristic might be.]

At a very simple level: question authority might be a useful moral heuristic. But I am not so much looking for aphorisms as reports of work that examines the whole approach (ie using heuristics in a positive way to solve ethical problems). Even a suitable google phrase might be useful (I tried "applied ethics", for example, but that is more concerned with applying the kind of "first principles" approach that I have little faith in).

Alternatively, if this is hopelessly naive and uninformed, is there an introduction to ethics I should be reading that addresses the issues of complexity and incomplete information?

Thanks.

Help me not hurt my paint job any more than I already have.

crinklebat — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:55:48 -0800

How do I know where my car ends and the rest of the world begins? I've been involved in two minor incidents with my car since getting it in September, both of which occurred when I failed to adequately judge where the edges of my car were in relation to the world around me while trying to get out of a parking space. This isn't a problem while I'm driving, in general, since I just leave a lot of space between myself and the car in front of me and can generally figure out whether I'm in my lane. It's easy to be cautious and leave a lot of room.

But in parking lots and garages, I feel like things are very touch and go. By definition, there isn't much space, and the margins for error can be small. I've never tried to parallel park because I just can't believe there's any way I could make it work.

I'm a person with a history of phobic feelings about driving so I'm working with a lot of baggage. In general I'm good on the street and highway but I definitely sweat a little in a crowded parking lot.

How long did it take you to learn to figure out how much space you were working with? Did you develop any good rules of thumb for how things should look when parking or getting out of a parking space? My parents told me I would "just figure out" where the edges of my car are, but I haven't done it yet and I'm worried things will get expensive before I do, so I'm trying to speed this process up in whatever way I can.

How does virus scanning work?

Gyan — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 03:13:41 -0800

How does virus scanning work? There are thousands of viruses/virii to look for, and yet the filenames cycle through instantaneously. My initial theory was that the scanner queries for the last time the file was modified. If after the previous scan, it actually checks for signatures, otherwise it skips through. But this doesn't explain why the checking still seems fast when done from a new A/V scanner. Even factoring all the viruses that are slight variants, there still must be a couple hundred unique types.