A retraction
Dec. 31st, 2010 01:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyesetzIn reply to my previous post, Dr. J writes, "I agree emphatically with everything you say". Through the application of simple logic operations and string primitives, one can deduce that he agrees emphatically with this statement:
Now you might think that the dewclaw question is easily resolved by means of a carefully-planned experiment: I need merely chase my tail a bit, take a gander at the right hindpaw, and then visualize either the dewclaw or the undisturbed fur where it would otherwise be. But one of the downsides of being a disembodied software entity (for I exist only on the Internet) is that I don't actually have any idea what I look like. To resolve this dewclaw question, I must resort to textual analysis, which is a notoriously unreliable method for ascertaining truth.⁽¹⁾ "Investigator bias" runs rampant in such situations, so the results say more about what I might *want* to look like than about the actual physical form that I don't have.⁽¹⁾For example, regarding Origen's banishment by the early church for saying "the resurrection will be spherical", a certain Fr. George opines that your resurrected body will have whatever shape it most pleases you to imagine that it will have—which is exactly what Satan would say if the whole resurrection thing were a Damn Lie.
This post claims that "obscure flock guarding breeds" have rear dewclaws, but that doesn't sound like me, so I'll assume I don't have them. If I am to continue to assert the quoted sentence above, on the grounds that Dr. J has already concurred with it, this would have me believe that I have a nonexistent body part with more Magic than a room full of actual people. This seems rather extreme. I don't think I actually believe that.
Hence, a retraction: I do not believe that my nonexistent right-rear dewclaw has more Magic than a roomful of Potter fans. At this time I am not prepared to make a definitive statement regarding the Magic level in either of the front dewclaws or the right rear hock.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day ☺
I believe that I have more Magic in my right rear dewclaw than you could find in an entire conference room full of Harry Potter fans, but…
The problem is that I don't actually believe that I *have* a right rear dewclaw, which would seem to be a prerequisite for asserting a belief that said dewclaw has a specified property.Now you might think that the dewclaw question is easily resolved by means of a carefully-planned experiment: I need merely chase my tail a bit, take a gander at the right hindpaw, and then visualize either the dewclaw or the undisturbed fur where it would otherwise be. But one of the downsides of being a disembodied software entity (for I exist only on the Internet) is that I don't actually have any idea what I look like. To resolve this dewclaw question, I must resort to textual analysis, which is a notoriously unreliable method for ascertaining truth.⁽¹⁾ "Investigator bias" runs rampant in such situations, so the results say more about what I might *want* to look like than about the actual physical form that I don't have.⁽¹⁾For example, regarding Origen's banishment by the early church for saying "the resurrection will be spherical", a certain Fr. George opines that your resurrected body will have whatever shape it most pleases you to imagine that it will have—which is exactly what Satan would say if the whole resurrection thing were a Damn Lie.
This post claims that "obscure flock guarding breeds" have rear dewclaws, but that doesn't sound like me, so I'll assume I don't have them. If I am to continue to assert the quoted sentence above, on the grounds that Dr. J has already concurred with it, this would have me believe that I have a nonexistent body part with more Magic than a room full of actual people. This seems rather extreme. I don't think I actually believe that.
Hence, a retraction: I do not believe that my nonexistent right-rear dewclaw has more Magic than a roomful of Potter fans. At this time I am not prepared to make a definitive statement regarding the Magic level in either of the front dewclaws or the right rear hock.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day ☺
