Proof That "Moderation" Is Meaningless: All Comments Welcome

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The discussion centers on the assertion that the phrase "in moderation" is often meaningless. The original poster challenges the validity of the common adage "Moderation in all things," arguing that it lacks substance when applied to various aspects of life such as food, alcohol, and exercise. They reference a proof linked in their post to support their claim. Participants engage by commenting on the implications of moderation, with one suggesting that being excessively moderate contradicts the concept itself. Another contributor highlights the subjective nature of what constitutes moderation, pointing out that the thresholds for "too much" or "too little" are arbitrary, rendering the advice simplistic and ineffective. Overall, the conversation critiques the practicality of moderation as a guiding principle.
rasman
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Hello. I'd be curious to know what you all think about my proof that the phrase "in moderation" is so often meaningless.

How many times have you heard someone say, “Moderation in all things“, “Take everything in moderation”, or “X is fine, but in moderation”? Replace X with anything you like: food, alcohol, exercise, sleep, etc. I will now prove to you why this statement is completely meaningless.

The rest of the proof is http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2006/08/23/moderation-proof/".

All comments welcome. Cheers!
 
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Looks to me like you need to learn moderation in application of proofs. :approve:

To be truly moderate in all things you cannot be excessively moderate.
 
Seek not the golden mean, but rather the golden extreme. After all, by similar means you can prove that you can't get too much of a good thing.
 
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rasman said:
Hello. I'd be curious to know what you all think about my proof that the phrase "in moderation" is so often meaningless.



The rest of the proof is http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2006/08/23/moderation-proof/".

All comments welcome. Cheers!
Nice proof. I do hate it when my exam grades turn out terribly high! :biggrin:

The thing, in my opinion, that makes that statement not a tautology is the decision of which things lie in the set of "so often" things, and which do not.
 
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Gokul43201 said:
The thing, in my opinion, that makes that statement not a tautology is the decision of which things lie in the set of "so often" things, and which do not.
What I meant by "so often" was "almost always if not always". "Do everything in moderation" is just a phrase that means "don't stuff too much or too little", which is an idiotic thing to say, especially when the "too much" and "too little" thresholds are completely arbitrary.
 
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