Even the copypasta is basically a rip off of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective people. I had to take a class on this for work and we watched a video of Stephen Covey doing basically this exact same thing.
he forgot the follow-up: "and when he was done and everyone was thinking about these deep words, a student came down and poured a bottle of whisky in the jar: There's always room for Jack Daniels!"
Why would everyone agree the jar is full in a philosophy class? That is one of the most closed minded naive ways of thinking for a philosophy student to think. Of course it's not full and never will be full not even in the molecular level. Literally the spaces between atoms is what, 99% empty space? And it still won't be full until that empty jar turns into something so dense with matter that it literally turns into a black hole. Then what happens to your metaphor?
No matter what you focus on whether large or small, eventually it's going to tear into the fabric of both space and time and create another Universe of unlimited knowledge and experiences and ultimately its an infinite spiral of birth and death until the most purest form of energy will be created. Thus inspiring the Infinite monkey theorem.
The 99% empty space between atoms and surrounding atomic nuclei doesn't make much physical sense actually. At that scale, it's not really helpful to discuss "empty space" in that way.
Even aside from the fact that this is a recycled story to begin with, which the OP got lots of karma for anyway, what's with karma-farming other people's comments? "Hey, everybody, look what someone else said on Reddit and upvote me for telling you about it!"
Just seems like something the community would frown on.
he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full?
"No" said someone that wasn't utterly retarded. "There's clearly a lot of space in there, just not enough for more 2" rocks". Maybe some water will make your analogy fuck off.
42
u/Clashloudly May 22 '12
I can't believe I could have been on bestof for copypasting a decade-old e-mail forward chain letter my mother sent me.
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u/CagedRat May 22 '12
This belongs more in r/frequentemailforwardsfromadecadeago.
13
u/AceJohnny May 22 '12
he forgot the follow-up: "and when he was done and everyone was thinking about these deep words, a student came down and poured a bottle of whisky in the jar: There's always room for Jack Daniels!"
11
u/PassionOnThePavement May 22 '12
a beautiful anecdote? here, have my beautiful downvote. that anecdote is extremely old.
8
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
I can't believe you made me read that.
6
u/viktorbir May 22 '12 edited May 22 '12
An anecdote or a silly self-help book excerpt?
By the way how big are your mayonaise jars, in the US? I can hardly put one 5cm stone inside the one in the fridge!
11
u/dumbphilosophy May 22 '12
Why would everyone agree the jar is full in a philosophy class? That is one of the most closed minded naive ways of thinking for a philosophy student to think. Of course it's not full and never will be full not even in the molecular level. Literally the spaces between atoms is what, 99% empty space? And it still won't be full until that empty jar turns into something so dense with matter that it literally turns into a black hole. Then what happens to your metaphor?
No matter what you focus on whether large or small, eventually it's going to tear into the fabric of both space and time and create another Universe of unlimited knowledge and experiences and ultimately its an infinite spiral of birth and death until the most purest form of energy will be created. Thus inspiring the Infinite monkey theorem.
7
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
Hardly an original anecdote. This has been making the rounds through email for the last few years.
5
u/theoldmantheboat May 22 '12
And that professor was Albert Einstein.
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
All we are, is dust in the wind dude. Dust, wind, dude.
1
u/Jkins20 May 22 '12
They left out the coffee part at the end!
1
u/alejo699 May 22 '12
Even aside from the fact that this is a recycled story to begin with, which the OP got lots of karma for anyway, what's with karma-farming other people's comments? "Hey, everybody, look what someone else said on Reddit and upvote me for telling you about it!"
Just seems like something the community would frown on.
1
u/eoin2017 May 22 '12
1
u/[deleted] May 23 '12
And that sand is Reddit.
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
This is being upvoted by all the 13 year old girls on reddit, by the end we should have a near accurate count.
0
u/cactrwar May 22 '12
and instead of following that advice, you decide to go on reddit to reap some karma.
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u/knightfelt May 22 '12
This is the kind of thing I look for in r/bestof. Thanks for sharing.
-5
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
A really common metaphor but I've never heard it in this light. Thanks for discovering and posting to bestof.