Donald Whytock on 6 Feb 2002 06:11:55 -0000


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Re: spoon-discuss: Re: spoon-business: new proposal: ptime


On 2/5/02 at 10:45 PM Eric Gerlach wrote:

>At 06:29 PM 2002-02-05 -0500, you wrote:
>>Look at all the assumptions the rule makes in order to resolve a paradox
>>- you can't rely on any of these facts in an actual paradox situation:
>>
>>* The Clock exists and is functioning correctly.
>>* It is possible to determine which players are in the game.
>>* It is possible to submit a CFJ.
>>* It is possible to collect votes on a Ballot.
>
>You speak the truth, Plunder.
>
>Perhaps what's needed is a "wayback machine" sort of deal where we reset
>the game to before the paradox began in terms of players eligible to vote
>and stuff... I donno... just tossing out ideas here.
>
>Bean

Well, I could put a bunch of conditionals in there...if such-and-such condition exists, execute the step in the following way...Mostly the steps were structured around the assumptions to allow for the possibility that those things are working.  The Clock, I'll grant you, might fail; a refresh proposal would be needed to reset it.  Collecting votes on a ballot should be possible one way or another.

CFJs working?  For a paradox rule to activate, there essentially has to be some sort of a switch to throw.  If the switch is easy to throw, it's conceivable that an easily entertained miscreant might throw it all the time.  If the switch is hard to throw, it might not get thrown.  Maybe it doesn't have to be only CFJs, but then, what's the switch to use?

Which players are in the game?  Okay, admittedly that can be an issue, as demonstrated by Scoff!, but what paradox resolution comes down to is the more basic assumption that people want to continue to play the game.  It would be nice if we can come up with something now that we all agree is what can be done later if/when everything falls apart.  If we cannot demonstrate now that we'll be able to functionally deal with the situation later, we might as well agree that the game is dead the first time an unresolvable rule crisis comes up.

I suppose that would simplify things...

						Glotmorf