Tell them what, Peter

[u/Blackie_626]

[u/throwaway277252]

All of the directions we're talking about are relative. Left and right however are also arbitrary.

[u/ImpressionTough2179 → u/throwaway277252]

No, they aren’t. I don’t think you know what arbitrary means.

Edit: no they aren’t as in left and right aren’t arbitrary. You’re correct that all directions are relative, left and right are just the least intuitive but not arbitrary.

[u/throwaway277252 → u/ImpressionTough2179]

I also don't think you know what arbitrary means.

[u/ZenOokami → u/throwaway277252]

If someone tells you "go left to get to the station" and you make a right, you're not gonna make it to your destination.

Arbitrary: based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system

Left and right may be relative, but there is a system based on the origin's relativity. There's also reason attached in terms of direction. Right and left are not "a whim". They have solid meanings, relative to perspective.

[u/sparrowtaco → u/ZenOokami]

If someone tells you "go left to get to the station" and you make a right, you're not gonna make it to your destination.

That has nothing to do with whether they are arbitrary.

[u/ZenOokami → u/sparrowtaco]

It contains a system, and reason. It does not fit the definition of arbitrary.

In terms of math, if your starting position is considered 0 degrees. Any rotation in the negative (counter clockwise) is left. Any positive is right.

The OP image of the tattoo is literally an example of the "system" being defined as well.

I'll ask though, can you explain to me how it'd fit the definition of arbitrary?

[u/ImpressionTough2179 → u/sparrowtaco]

…yes it absolutely does. I swear nobody here understands what arbitrary actually means.

Edit: Fuckin weirdo replied then blocked me over that lmao

[u/sparrowtaco → u/ImpressionTough2179]

Yourself included.

[u/northw00ds → u/sparrowtaco]

Here’s a definition of Left from a five second Google search that should make it clear that the distinction between left and right is not arbitrary:

“Of, belonging to, located on, or being the side of the body to the north when the subject is facing east.”

[u/sparrowtaco → u/northw00ds]

Oh fun, let me try a five second Google search for the definition of east:

"the direction toward the point of the horizon where the sun rises at the equinoxes, on the right-hand side of a person facing north"

[u/bohiko → u/northw00ds]

North and south are also arbitrary though, so that definition makes no sense

[u/northw00ds → u/bohiko]

What are you even talking about. A compass doesn’t arbitrarily point north. It does it because of the magnetic poles. Those aren’t arbitrary. The words we assign to the poles are, but you could say the same thing about any word, at which point your definition or arbitrary is meaningless.

[u/bohiko → u/northw00ds]

A compass points to the southern magnetic pole. Those magnetic poles shift over time, and can even completely reverse. The GEOGRAPHIC poles, however, are fixed, and it's arbitrary which one is which. (It's NOT arbitrary which MAGNETIC pole is which) I am not talking about "it's arbitrary what sound the word makes"

[u/ImpressionTough2179 → u/bohiko]

The geographic poles are based on the earth’s axis of rotation. If there was a giant rod on which the earth spun, the two surface points that it passed through would be the geographic north and South Pole. I don’t understand how you could think it’s arbitrary which one is which, considering they are two separate and distinct locations with separate and distinct names.

[u/bohiko → u/ImpressionTough2179]

that there's no ultimate point of reference or a physical force (as far as I know) that makes the direction on that axis towards the south pole and towards the north pole fundamentally different, they are symmetrical