Re: spoon-discuss: The Agent Joel Uckelman is not a Player.

[Joel Uckelman <uckelman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoth Jeff N Schroeder:
<snip>
> >
> >There is nothing inconsistent with starting the game as a Player. To do so 
> >_assumes_ that I am a Player. That's what an initial condition is--an 
> >assumption that something is true of the game state at time 0. By R106 and 
> >the assumption of my Playerhood, it follows by definition that I consent 
> >and have "become a Player in the manner proscribed in the Rules". If you 
> >reject one of the initial conditions, viz. that I started as a Player, then 
> >we're just not playing the same game.
> 
> I would say that when the game starts there are zero (0) Players in the 
> game and they are all added in the manner stated in the rules.  I would 
> not make the assumption that since you started the game, you are by 
> default a Player.

That's beside the point. I *stipulated* that I was a player when the game 
began--i.e., it was a statement of the game state when the game started. 
Nothing happened in the game prior to that point, nor were the rules in 
effect. The rules simply don't apply to extra-game occurrences, especially 
those predating the existence of the game.

This seems analogous to denying that x = 3 when a math problem tells you to 
assume "x = 3".


-- 
J.

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