pratt@Navajo@sri-unix.UUCP (10/07/83)
From: Vaughan Pratt <pratt@Navajo>
[Reprinted from the SU-SCORE bboard.]
[...]
I think if "Breathing" had been on the least along with "Reasoned
Argument" then the latter would only have come in second last.
It is not that reasoned argument is ineffective but that it is on
a par with breathing, namely something we do subconsciously. Consciously
performed reasoning is only marginally reliable in mathematical circles,
and quite unreliable in most other areas. It makes most people dizzy,
much as consciously performed breathing does.
-v