Zefram wrote:
> judge would be allowed to fall back on game custom and precedent,
> i.e. use its old definition.
I just noticed that Rule 1586 explicitly prohibits such a course of
action:
# If the Rules defining some entity are repealed or amended such that
# they no longer define that entity, then that entity along with all
# its properties shall cease to exist.
So, specifically, the numerical comparison properties of Unanimity have
ceased to exist.
A property of a currently defined entity is not in itself an entity.
The "entity" in question is Unanimity, or more properly, any vote
result defined by R955(c)(1). These still exist and are defined in
the Ruleset. You can't just ignore that, which is what you are
trying to do. Even if R955(c)(1) were entirely ignored or considered
meaningless, such a vote would, under R955(c)(3), have an Undefined
Voting Index (common mathematical usage of division by zero).
Concerning certain properties of Unanimity, or undefined VIs, the
rules are "silent, inconsistent, or unclear" (R217). In
particular, the numerical ordering of a vote with Unanimity
properties is undefined, both by the rules and common mathematical
definitions, and therefore the rules are silent or unclear on
whether such a quantity meets or exceeds an adoption index.
And like it or not, your argument implies an ordering. Your
argument implies that Unanimity has an ordering E where E is less than
any positive rational number. My argument is that Unanimity has an
ordering P greater than any positive rational number. By putting
it in these terms, hopefully you can see that BOTH ORDERINGS ARE
INHERENTLY ARBITRARY.
Arguments in support of my arbitrary ordering are common sense,
common language (what unanimity implies in common language) and
game custom. Arguments in support of your arbitrary ordering,
well, I dunno. Maybe you could say "for the good of the game"
that any ambiguity whatsoever in proposal adoption should error
in favor of adoption failing, but I'd say for the good of the
game, in this case, the ambiguity is so small as to be nonexistent.
-Goethe
I transfer 1000 Quatloos to the.
