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From: minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky)
Subject: Re: AI Heaven
Message-ID: <1995Aug30.225640.15948@media.mit.edu>
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References: <4209m8$3bi@Kaos.deepcove.com> <809777912snz@ppeace.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 22:56:40 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai:33002 comp.ai.philosophy:32267

In article <809777912snz@ppeace.demon.co.uk> richard@ppeace.demon.co.uk writes:

>And what's this nonsense about mathematics?  Just because mathematics can be
>used to describe the universe doesn't mean you can use it to change anything!

Are you sure?  There was a neural network book that accused Papert and
me of proving some of the theorems in "Perceptrons" for the political
purpose of taking money away from the perceptron researchers.  For 30
milliseconds I couldn't help wondering if the theorems were true
before we proved them ;-).

>Playing aroung with mathematics *can* cause some startling paradoxes.  There's
>an old story (can't remember who it's attributed to) about a challenge between
>a mathematician and a philosopher - 
>
>"If you start from a false assumption in maths, you can prove anything"
>said the mathematician.
>"OK, 0=1. Now prove you are the Pope"
>"Easy. Add 1 to each side. Now 1=2. The Pope and I are two people. Therefore,
>the Pope and I are one!"

I'm almost certain it was Bertrand Russell.  And it's consistent with his
anti-religious disposition.
