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Article 5313 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: Games (was Re: Categories: bounded or graded?)
Message-ID: <1992Apr28.173231.11604@cs.ucf.edu>
Sender: news@cs.ucf.edu (News system)
Organization: University of Central Florida
References: <1992Apr27.173513.33215@spss.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1992 17:32:31 GMT

In article <1992Apr26.202351.21342@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>  
bill@NSMA.AriZonA.EdU (Bill Skaggs) writes:
> 
> :-)
> 

In article <1992Apr27.173513.33215@spss.com> markrose@spss.com (Mark  
Rosenfelder) writes:
> A recursive definition is not improved by hiding the recursion with Latin.

I have "The Grasshopper.   Games, Life and Utopia" by Bernard Suits in front of  
me now.  His exact definition is (I remembered the Latin wrong):

"To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs [prelusory  
goal], using only means permitted by rules [lusory means], where the rules  
prohibit use of more efficient in favor of less efficient means [constitutive  
rules], and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such  
activity [lusory attitude].  I also offer the following simpler and, so to  
speak, more portable version of the above:  playing a games is the voluntary  
attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles."

It's a very nice little book.  A quick read for a philosophy book.  He  
convinced me.  

You may find the way utopia comes in interesting.  Imagine a utopian future,  
AIs (aided by nanotechnology?) do everything for everyone at the merest  
request. What will we do with our time?  Suits argues the only possible answer  
is to play games.  In addition to obvious game playing, any activity in the  
utopia, writing a new MUD say, is clearly inefficient when your nearest AI  
could do it faster and better; in coding the MUD you would probably set rules,  
like a crossword puzzle, to make the task more interesting and satisfying.


