Re: Science

2003-01-11 Thread Tim May
On Saturday, January 11, 2003, at 03:11 PM, John M wrote: This list - several years ago - took a free approach, alas lately more and more conventional opinions slip in, regrettable for me, because I hold that the conventional "science establishment" holds feverishly to old addages, acquired

Re: Science

2003-01-11 Thread John M
Dear Tim, this writing is not about YOU, only addressed to your post. It is about the topic of it. I have no argument with you, maybe you will have with me. I try not to repeat all that was priorly quoted nor your added texts, they all are available on the list. 'Science' is a battlecry, disputed

R: Possible Worlds, Logic, and MWI

2003-01-11 Thread scerir
Tim May: > (Again, I currently have no pet theory of what Reality is. But I'm > happy to be building a base of tools to be able to more intelligently > comment later. Having a pet theory is not so important.) The best definition, imo, is: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doe

Science

2003-01-11 Thread Tim May
On Saturday, January 11, 2003, at 12:28 PM, Eric Hawthorne wrote: ... This scientific process works pretty well but is somehow loosy-goosy and unsatisfying. Do theories which replace other older, now discredited theories, keep getting better and better? Probably yes. But what is the limit of t

Re: Possible Worlds, Logic, and MWI

2003-01-11 Thread Eric Hawthorne
Interleaving... POINT 1 For example, "truth" is defined in formal logic with respect to, again, formal models with an infinite number of formal symbols in them. It is not defined with respect to some vague "correspondence" with external reality. Actually, science is just about such corr

Re: Possible Worlds, Logic, and MWI

2003-01-11 Thread Tim May
On Saturday, January 11, 2003, at 01:39 AM, Eric Hawthorne wrote: This strict "anonymous symbols" interpretation is how one must treat formal logic and propositions expressed in formal logic too. Every time I read someone bemoaning how logic has difficulty with expressing "what is going to happ

Re: Possible Worlds, Logic, and MWI

2003-01-11 Thread Eric Hawthorne
Re: possible worlds in logic. Logic (and its possible worlds semantics) says nothing (precise) about external reality. Logic only says something about the relationship of symbols in a formal language. Remember that the reason non-sloppy mathematicians use non-meaningful variable-names (i.e. ter