Never mind what two tons refers to. What is it? How has it entered in so definite a way into our exprerience? Two tons is the reading of the pointer when the elephant was placed on a weighing machine. Let us pass on. ... And so we see that the poetry fades out of the problem, and by the time the serious application of exact science begins we are left only with pointer readings.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Quantitative measurement reduces rich phenomena to numerical readings, stripping away descriptive context for precise analysis.
- In plain terms
- Science turns complex experiences into simple numbers.
- What can you take from it?
- Measurement simplifies reality into data points.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What do we lose in measurement?
- Is precision always best?
Another view
Numerical data can lose qualitative context.
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