>>Stathis: OK, I agree with your reasoning. But, just for fun, can you >>think of an example of a physical reality which is clearly a priori >>contradictory? > >Jonathan Colvin: That's a good question. I can think of a chess position that >is a-priori illegal. But our macroscopic world is so complex >it is far from obvious what is allowed and what is forbidden. >That's why I can't consistently predict what tomorrow's >lottery numbers will be. So if I could answer your question, >I'd probably be out buying lottery tickets right now :).
To elaborate, even something as simple as chess rapidly becomes too complex to answer your question. I can show you a mid-game chess position, and in general it will be unfeasible (even with all the computers in the world) for you to answer the question "is this position a-priori contradictory with the theorem of chess". This is because there at are 10<sup>120 possible chess games. If it is that hard to answer the question about a system as simple as chess, it becomes easier to see why it is so hard to answer such a question about our world. Jonathan Colvin
