sgs (03/14/83)
Martin Shannon, Jr. seems to be intent on using this newsgroup for the purpose of proving his own existence. Besides bringing up birth certificates, he seems to be reasoning in a way analogous to the "white raven" argument: as "all ravens are black" is equivalent to "all non-black things are not ravens", so one might to hope to establish the black-raven hypothesis by observing examples of non-black things that are not, indeed, ravens. Though only mildly peccable logically, this is not the sort of science likely to lead to publication of a letter in Nature. Shannon's attempts to deny the existence of Bimmler by asserting his own have much the same futility. But I digress. The putative Shannon's real crime is not to deny the existence of another sentient being (though is this not a form of murder?), but to misuse this forum to boast of his existence, when net.suicide is dedicated to nonexistence and the ways and means of achieving it. Really groused this time, Susie Goebbels-Smythe