TITLE: Spurious Precision
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: July 07, 2020  2:42 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 When I pestered Conway for more details regarding the seminal
 Moscow meeting that inspired his triumphant half-day of
 discovery, he begged off.  He was loath to add any "spurious
 precision", as he came to refer to his embellishments,
 advertent or accidental.  "My memory.  My memory is a liar,"
 he said.  "It's a good liar.  It deceives even me."
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 I love the phrase "spurious precision".  It's a great name for
 something I see in the world -- and, all too often, in my own
 mind.  I should be as careful with my own memory as Conway
 tried to be in this instance.

 (From
<A HREF="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/23/john-horton-conway-the-most-charismatic-mathematician-in-the-world">
   a 2015 profile</A>
 in <EM>The Guardian</EM>.)
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