On 29 Jun 2017 15:58, "Bruno Marchal" <[email protected]> wrote:
On 28 Jun 2017, at 16:03, John Clark wrote: snip >> Unicorns don't exist, > > >In which theory? Oh for christ's sake! This is really getting silly, now existence depends on theories. Of course not. But *asserting* an existence depends on a theory or belief of some subject doing the assertion. For example, you just said to Adrian Chira: "Assuming there is a largest prime number leads to a logical contradiction, but assuming free will exists is like assuming Klogknee exists." But Robinson Arithmetic, a weak but already sigma_1 complete theory (and thus Turing universal) is consistent with "there is a biggest prime number". You can add that axiom to RA without getting any contradiction. You were probably assuming Peano Arithmetic (which is Robinson arithmetic + the induction axiom), or you were assuming the standard model of arithmetic (which is a much stronger assumption than the axioms of PA). Except for the here-and-now 1p experience (consciousness), all existence assertions presupposes some belief, that is, an unconscious or a conscious theory. And the unicorn certainly exists. It is the national animal of Scotland! On the contrary, as a proud Scot, I can assure you that the national animal of Scotland is the haggis. David Bruno John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
