X-Message-Number: 4336
From: 
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 21:41:26 -0400
Subject: misc.

If I read him right, John Clark's position on "free will" (#4329) is that it
is a non-problem. I'm glad to be able to agree with him for a change. We have
free will on the conscious level whenever we are allowed to function normally
(free of drugs, coercion, brain-washing etc.); on any other level the term is
meaningless.

However, he did not do justice to Michael Riskin's arguments about
intelliglence, or to mine; but I won't drag that on any further, at least for
now. 

I will, however, offer a mild remonstrance on his statement that "all true
mathematical statements are tautologies."  The statement 

(1)   2 x 3 = 6

is not a tautology. The right and left members are equal but are not the same
THING. If they were, then the statement

(2)   6 = 6

would be no different in meaning than (1). But the meaning IS different, so
there is no tautology.

Thanks also to Art Quaife for #4326.

Robert Ettinger


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