On 10/15/19 6:53 AM, Timon Walshe-Grey wrote:
Agree. Another way of thinking about it is, if all the rules were combined into
one rule (disregarding the necessary rephrasing of various metarules like R1030
and R2240), there would in theory be no mechanical difference, yet all the
circular dependencies would disappear. The main reason this wouldn't work in
practice is that we sometimes have higher-powered rules depending on lower-
powered rules - so I argue it's those relationships we should be trying to
eliminate, not circular dependencies themselves.
Further philosophising: if all the rules_were_ combined into one rule, would
there be any meaningful semantic difference from the current "ruleset"? Or would
Agora cease to exist as we know it and be replaced by something even more
bizarre
and inexplicable?
I think there's nothing stopping us from finding a way to put everything
in one rule while keeping the game mechanics the same. I would suggest
that we revert the direction that R2240 creates precedence, so that
higher-powered rules would be higher-up in the text of the monorule. If
we treat the Rules as a black box, there's nothing stopping a different
black box that does the same thing, just implemented as one rule instead
of 100.
And would we know if this had already happened?
If you're referring to actually merging everything into a single rule,
then that would be many rule-changes governed by R105, so it really
couldn't happen without someone knowing.
Otherwise, the closest we probably have is the Ruleset as a concept;
under [CFJ1992], "the Ruleset" is an entity. I proposed defining the
ruleset as an entity back when I proposed binding entities, and G.'s
proposal for defining "the Ruleset" in the Rules just passed. And the
Rules collectively could certainly be construed as placing requirements
as a whole, rather than placing requirements individually.
However, there are some issues here - R2141 says that each Rule is
itself an Instrument, thus requiring it to be a separate entity. R101
says that us Persons must act "in accordance with the Rules", not in
accordance with the Ruleset as a whole. I thus conclude that what you
describe has not already happened.
[CFJ1992]: https://faculty.washington.edu/kerim/nomic/cases/?1992
--
Jason Cobb
