Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

idkalice wrote (edited )

the point about about trigonometry being an "offshoot of artillery" just doesnt make that much sense to me, like sure afaik it's important for artillery but if you search from what i can find that's clearly not the reason the thing exists or the only reason for its application, like the history is ancient. obv not trying to dismiss the article on this but i just find it weird that trigonometry here is just dismissed as a way for militaries to kill people deader

7

Antarchtic wrote

I agree, it feels like a pretty lackluster dismissal. I think it would've been a bit more coherent to mention the ways trigonometry is the basis of current military artillery and general manufacturing, I think it would flow very nicely into the argument about the things they don't teach us in school.

On the other hand, maybe Gelderloos just really despises trigonometry. Which is understandable, honestly

5

Spring wrote

Yeah definitely, this was quite jarring to me. When I think of trigonometry I immediately go to Pythagoras and the ancient Greeks. And OK it is useful for artillery and OK in the mediaeval ages there was a lot of funding for military applications. But as you say 1) it massively predates this situation and 2) it is incredibly useful for other things - building housing for example, machinery, electronics and communication. Now OK maybe we have a separate argument about the morality of technology, but that it is a very different argument.

Which is a shame because the argument against science (or the veneration of science anyway) was great and very important.

4

moonlune wrote (edited )

Classical physics & differential geometry was perfected in the 18XXs thanks to the prussian army's funding and their hope to shoot straighter cannon balls.

4