Re: An interesting paradox for you.

James Dreier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>> you gotta try harder.
>
>Intending is (I think!) like believing, in that trying hard doesn't help.
>
>Can you intend to fly to the moon tomorrow? I can't, and I don't even 
>know how to try, any more than I know how to try to believe that I will 
>fly to the moon tomorrow.

I would find it easier to believe that it was going to rain tomorrow, even
though it hardly ever does here in Summer. IOW believing that I would be so
foolish as to accept an apparently unneccessary flogging is easy compared to
believing that I will fly to the moon.


>The problem (for me) is that since I know I won't volunteer to be 
>flogged, I can't intend it. I know I won't do it even if I 'make up my 
>mind' right now.

How can you be so certain you won't volunteer? Surely you could find a way to
make yourself less certain. Perhaps enlist the aid of a friend who will force
you for 10% of the loot.

>Suppose in a confused moment you asserted, "If this sentence is true, I 
>will volunteer for a flogging tomorrow." Then if you don't volunteer for 
>a flogging the next day, a paradox will arise. I don't believe for one 
>moment that you would then volunteer for a flogging in order to avoid 
>the paradox.

You're right, I wouldn't make much of an effort to attend any flogging to avert
a harmless paradox. But you're comparing that to a million dollar 'paradox'.

>> Try this: Don't think so far ahead. Form the intention now, worry about 
>> the
>> paradox later. Most people manage to be short-sighted all through life, 
>> are you
>> going to let them benefit while you lose a million dollars for thinking 
>> too far
>> ahead?
>
>That might work. If it does, of course, I will get the money and (unlike 
>you!) I won't be flogged.

You're assuming I will be flogged. I'd prefer to say for sure I'll be flogged,
and tomorrow we'll see what happens :> But I'm not thinking about that right
now!


-- 
Patrick Hamlyn   posting from Perth, Western Australia
Windsurfing capital of the Southern Hemisphere
Moderator: polyforms group ([EMAIL PROTECTED])