-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Well I'm just grumpy enough right now to tear this apart... :) On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Douglas B. Renner wrote:
Those of you who took Logic 1001 will recall the paradox known as "The Heap" which goes like this:
1. A single grain of sand does not constitute a heap of sand.
An debatable but valid assumption.
2. You can create a heap from a non-heap by adding a single grain of sand.
How is a non-heap defined? 1 grain? 0 grains? If (2) is to be true, it can't be 0, since you assumed (1), so a non-heap must be 1 grain.
3. Therefore, there is *NO SUCH THING* as a heap of sand.
Huh? How do you draw that conclusion? (1) and (2) are not contradictory in any way. You said 1 grain is not a heap, but >1 is. Fine. Valid way of defining a heap/non-heap of sand. Nothing to do with (3).
You with me here? Okay, this is important, because the public actually does think like this:
Very debatable. Very general.
1. Our current society in America is not oppressive. (generally accepted)
Very debatable.
2. You cannot change a non-oppressive society into an oppressive society by removing one liberty from its citizens. (also generally accepted)
Rubbish. If the government removes all liberties at once, that's oppressive, but if they do it one at a time, it's not?
3. Therefore, it is not possible for America to become an oppressive society.
More Rubbish. Not only are your assumptions flawed, but the heap argument and the oppression argument are entirely unrelated. Nothing personal, mind you. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jeremey Barrett Senior Software Engineer jeremey@veriweb.com VeriWeb Internet Corp. http://www.veriweb.com/ PGP Key fingerprint = 3B 42 1E D4 4B 17 0D 80 DC 59 6F 59 04 C3 83 64 PGP Public Key: http://www.veriweb.com/people/jeremey/pgpkey.html "less is more." -- Mies van de Rohe. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMkMLVC/fy+vkqMxNAQFHsgQAmK/nDEVv17ntZ2k172/S5ps4nYJeCFjM 4Ek8eOTG54pju5CYAZBTAYIOZNX4iDp4vK3Qyj3d1PAqpLCqQPJo3/Zr/dz21RH8 RkIP4IvEyFGNzpedh1yFe8wj8zGOPXk9OdblNujx8fFmThuk02zUJyUG+GDxBdDa zQGuNpTT7H8= =MFgt -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----