John C. Wright's Journal

Part of an ongoing conversation.

One of my few readers with a name rather than a moniker or handle, Mr Rudolph Harrier poses a fascinating question regarding the topic of whether ot not ‘checkmate’ has mass, length, duration or other physical properties. He speaks as follows:

Chess can be described as a mathematical object, and so if we accept mathematical objects as real and prior to humans, then it would seem that Chess (and so also checkmates) could also be.

To see what I am getting at, consider the Prisoner’s Dilemma from Game Theory. This is a game as well, though a much simpler one, and one which is analyzed through mathematics.

If we define “winning strategy” in a precise way, such as one that will maximize the limit of the utility function with the assumption that all other players play towards the same goal, then there is a true winning strategy.

This can be mathematically proven, and mathematical proofs are necessarily about mathematical objects, so it would seem that the Prisoner’s Dilemma could be prior to the idea of prisoners.

But we can analyze Chess using the same ideas, so would that mean that Chess is also prior to the humans who created it?

I have several remarks to make on this fascinating and difficult question. Here is the deep waters indeed: let us fill our lungs and cliffdive into the ocean of subtle philosophical definitions and distinctions.

Read the remainder of this entry »

I just encountered the odd spectacle of CNN, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC describing a proposed action by President Trump with terms of respect and dignified agreement.

Apparently, the news wishes to convince the unwary that e-cigarettes, which may or may not be responsible for as many as six deaths, and perhaps responsible for some breathing disorders in a vanishingly small percentage of the population, are a menace to the public health more dangerous than Spider-Man.

Six deaths! I read here that, in a Maryland county whose avowed policy is not to cooperate with immigration agents nor to enforce the laws against people in this country illegally, the seventh case in five weeks has been reported of a rape or a child rape.

Logically, if six death linked by an uncertain chain of medical speculation to vaping authorizes such bold and sweeping action as banning all flavored variants nationwide, that seven rapes should authorize the feds to send in the national guard to arrest the country commissioners on charges of treason, and, after a swift military tribunal, hang them all from lamp posts.

I assume the studies were performed by the same diligent and careful scientists who have been warning us for the past thirty years that global warming will destroy the planet in ten years, and, before that, global cooling.

Normally, my suspicions would not be aroused. That is all I voice at the moment, a suspicion, since I have not looked into the matter.

But to have the Fake News applaud their arch-foe Trump is so odd, so very odd, ‘twould be odd indeed for me, or anyone, to take the Fake at face value.