Lol the other day I learned the measurement for a yard was determined by an English king sticking his arm out and measuring the distance from his nose to his thumb
if you seem to think a 'colonial' standard of measurement is bad because it was imposed by force (metric wasn't in the vast majority of metric countries btw), the 'indigenous' one would need to be meaningfully different. but old measuring standards were arbitrary impositions from old ruling classes
how is that worse? if you're going to argue this is a knock against metric, the 'french ruling class' needs to be worse than whichever royal nonce decided the length of an ell.
btw when did the french conquer south america? it's so weird they're all using metric but i can't remember the date when Napoleon came round and forced them all to switch
gold reading comprehension star for you ⭐ you've successfully arrived at my point but you seem to think its yours.
i'm equivocating between the imposition of measurement systems through coercive force and arguing it is not a valid complaint against metric---so you agree?
okay I've found the impasse here. from your first post:
but old measuring standards were arbitrary impositions from old ruling classes
I disagree with this premise. Certainly some of them may have been, but the majority of measurements that people used were used for thousands of years, and were honed over that period by actual craftsmen doing actual craftswork.
The oft-cited examples of English kings defining feet using their own feet and stuff like that wasn't the ruling class arbitrarily imposing measurements on the lower class, it was the ruling class taking measurements that already existed and choosing an arbitrary reference point to standardize to. As I said elsewhere, I think standardization is fine and good, it's the taking measurements away from what people came up with because it was useful and replacing it with something a bunch of aristocrats invented because it made math slightly easier that I don't like.
even right after clarifying this shouldn't matter (and doing apologetics for the medieval equivalent) you return to this false standard and it isn't even true! SI is tied to universal constants so anybody in any condition can work with it, without even having to procure a copy of the standard. it's literally not arbitrary, or developed by out of touch aristocrats who never worked with their hands.
"actual craftsmen doing actual craftswork" because everyone has the same size of hands and feet? have you heard of sexual dimorphism? this is so childish, absolutely none of your arguments hold water (if you even stick to them) and are colored by a completely falsified version of history. instead of crafting unbelievable appeals to working people and cultural heritage, perhaps ponder why you're in disagreement with the vast mass of humanity and socialist thinkers. wonder about the billions of workers and craftsmen who get on just fine without your units
the standards set by some inbred monarch a thousand years ago should not be maintained
Lol the other day I learned the measurement for a yard was determined by an English king sticking his arm out and measuring the distance from his nose to his thumb
That's great but it has nothing to do with what I said.
if you seem to think a 'colonial' standard of measurement is bad because it was imposed by force (metric wasn't in the vast majority of metric countries btw), the 'indigenous' one would need to be meaningfully different. but old measuring standards were arbitrary impositions from old ruling classes
As opposed to metric, which was an arbitrary imposition by the French ruling class.
how is that worse? if you're going to argue this is a knock against metric, the 'french ruling class' needs to be worse than whichever royal nonce decided the length of an ell.
btw when did the french conquer south america? it's so weird they're all using metric but i can't remember the date when Napoleon came round and forced them all to switch
I didn't say it was worse. You implied that it was different, I pointed out that it was the same.
gold reading comprehension star for you ⭐ you've successfully arrived at my point but you seem to think its yours.
i'm equivocating between the imposition of measurement systems through coercive force and arguing it is not a valid complaint against metric---so you agree?
okay I've found the impasse here. from your first post:
I disagree with this premise. Certainly some of them may have been, but the majority of measurements that people used were used for thousands of years, and were honed over that period by actual craftsmen doing actual craftswork.
The oft-cited examples of English kings defining feet using their own feet and stuff like that wasn't the ruling class arbitrarily imposing measurements on the lower class, it was the ruling class taking measurements that already existed and choosing an arbitrary reference point to standardize to. As I said elsewhere, I think standardization is fine and good, it's the taking measurements away from what people came up with because it was useful and replacing it with something a bunch of aristocrats invented because it made math slightly easier that I don't like.
even right after clarifying this shouldn't matter (and doing apologetics for the medieval equivalent) you return to this false standard and it isn't even true! SI is tied to universal constants so anybody in any condition can work with it, without even having to procure a copy of the standard. it's literally not arbitrary, or developed by out of touch aristocrats who never worked with their hands.
"actual craftsmen doing actual craftswork" because everyone has the same size of hands and feet? have you heard of sexual dimorphism? this is so childish, absolutely none of your arguments hold water (if you even stick to them) and are colored by a completely falsified version of history. instead of crafting unbelievable appeals to working people and cultural heritage, perhaps ponder why you're in disagreement with the vast mass of humanity and socialist thinkers. wonder about the billions of workers and craftsmen who get on just fine without your units