On 5/6/2020 4:56 AM, Tanner Swett wrote: > On Wed, May 6, 2020, 01:29 Rebecca wrote: > >> Indeterminacy is different to "ambiguity". The indeterminacy here arises >> from the inability to determine the location of a certain game asset, >> rather than lack of clarity in the text of the rules of the sort that rule >> 217 could resolve. >> > > Are you saying that the ambiguity of the phrase "a player other than the > author of the proposal which enacted this rule" does not constitute lack of > clarity in the text of the rules of the sort that rule > 217 could resolve? If so, why is that?
No its absolutely clear that the text is creating a coin with an indeterminate property. So the rule is not silent or inconsistent, and is absolutely clear that the quantity is logically indeterminate. And the rules are absolutely clear how to deal with indeterminacy: label it indeterminate, and judge PARADOXICAL. No R217 factors to apply. Think of it this way: if the rules can be interpreted to *accidentally* create indeterminate conditions (which we've asserted can happen through R2518, and have been judged to have happened in the past) it makes no sense to then say the rules can't do so on purpose. You could even see how this would work in some sort of game play. For example: "When this Rule is created, the Maltese Falcon is created in the possession of an indeterminate player. If a player publishes an accurate record of past transfers that show that the Maltese Falcon must logically belong to em, then e wins the game." Here it's absolutely clear that the rule intends to set something to be "indeterminate" and how the rule intends the indeterminacy to be resolved. Arbitrarily assigning the falcon to a person would be against the direct wording of the rules. And in this case, the rule in question was direct and clear in creating a coin with no logically determinable owner. If it were any other textual instrument (e.g. a proposal) then it would fail entirely through lack of specification (which I considered as my first option in the judgement), but this is the text of the rules, which is privileged. That's why these recent experiments of "let's create a weirdly unspecified rule and see what happens" can actually be a bit dangerous, and the only cure to indeterminacy is not voting for such rules. -G.
