31–40 of 63 posts
This dialogue is absolutely marvellous: http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTao...
When I was an undergraduate I met Raymond at a math conference in Minnesota. We talked about logic, religion, and philosophy at the reception the first night. The next morning he sees me and runs over to me. He said, "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise,…
Anyways, I loved reading his books as a child.
> "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise, everyone goes to hell. Imagine then. Something you do could send everyone to hell." Yes, imagine community where everyone is policing everything everyone else does. What you do is no longer a question of your own p…
I can't remember if it was via reading Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, William Poundstone (or someone writing in a similar vein) that I came across Smullyan but his name cropped up in many things that have captivated me over the years. This dialogue is absolutely marvellous: http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTao...
When I was an undergraduate I met Raymond at a math conference in Minnesota. We talked about logic, religion, and philosophy at the reception the first night. The next morning he sees me and runs over to me. He said, "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise,…
Wow this is such a wholesome thing to say. I have no idea who this guy is but I now regret never meeting him.
Wish I've looked into that sooner.
> "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise, everyone goes to hell. Imagine then. Something you do could send everyone to hell." Yes, imagine community where everyone is policing everything everyone else does. What you do is no longer a question of your own p…
Note that present day religions all are about how other people should live, not just about how you should live.
Pope Francis has also made a big point of not judging others and trying to shift Catholicism back to its roots of faith and charity rather than being hypocritical morality enforcers. Not clear he will succeed long run, but there is a recognition in big places that doctrinal Christianity has lost its way.
> "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise, everyone goes to hell. Imagine then. Something you do could send everyone to hell." Yes, imagine community where everyone is policing everything everyone else does. What you do is no longer a question of your own p…
When I was an undergraduate I met Raymond at a math conference in Minnesota. We talked about logic, religion, and philosophy at the reception the first night. The next morning he sees me and runs over to me. He said, "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise,…
> Many of his logic problems are extensions of classic puzzles. Knights and Knaves involves knights (who always tell the truth) and knaves (who always lie). This is based on a story of two doors and two guards, one who lies and one who tells the truth. One door leads to heaven and one to hell, and the puzzle is to find out which door leads to heaven by asking one of the guards a question. One way to do this is to ask "Which door would the other guard say leads to hell?". This idea was famously used in the 1986 film Labyrinth.
According to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan
"The Lady or the Tiger" is, quite literally, probably the single most influential book from my childhood. In 6th grade, my math teacher had a copy in his classroom. He noticed that I spent so much time before class, after class, (during class) reading it, that at the end of the school year he told me I could take it home so long as I promised to bring it back at the end of the summer. (He was also the 7th and 8th gra…
"Oh come off it! You're not now talking to your Sunday school teacher, you are talking to me."
Someone once said that it isn't philosophy if it doesn't make you laugh. (If it only makes you laugh, it's not good philosophy.) It may have been Smullyan.