williams@kirk.DEC (John Williams 223-3402) (09/05/85)
If the people contributing to this newsgroup were seriously into wishy-washy thinking, as you have described, Rich, then certainly we would be forced to agree with you. To summarize my feelings in one complete sentence, the evidence is only *partially* conclusive. If this is the definition of wishy-washy, then I am guilty. You speak a great deal about science, but I suspect you have very little practice at it. I suspect you derive most of your understanding from books. In experimentally verifying the foundations of some of your assertions, you will be unable to observe these phenomena to an adequate degree of significance. You can't prove hard determinism, you can't even demonstrate hard determinism. That is exactly why it is called a " THEORY " Please recognize it for what it really is. John.
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (09/07/85)
To summarize my feelings in one complete sentence, the evidence is only *partially* conclusive. If this is the definition of wishy-washy, then I am guilty. You speak a great deal about science, but I suspect you have very little practice at it. I suspect you derive most of your understanding from books. In experimentally verifying the foundations of some of your assertions, you will be unable to observe these phenomena to an adequate degree of significance. You can't prove hard determinism, you can't even demonstrate hard determinism. That is exactly why it is called a " THEORY " Please recognize it for what it really is. [WILLIAMS] Please recognize the difference between building a model based on its applicability to reality and building a model to force-fit certain concepts we would LIKE to see into "reality". The first is the formulation of a reasonable theory. The second is wishy washy. YOUNG IDEALISTIC PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR: "Sir, we just got the grades from our freshman philosophy class, and no one received a passing grade." DEPARTMENT CHAIRMAN: "So? All we have to do is shift the passing grade down to 35!" YIPP: "But isn't that a bit like saying that free will exists when it doesn't by arbitrarily making the world mean something else?" DC: "What's wrong with that? Besides, where are all the new philosophers going to come from if we don't give out enough passing grades?" -- "Wait a minute. '*WE*' decided??? *MY* best interests????" Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr