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Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

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Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#11
post #8

I’m disappointed; this is as shallow an understanding of Taoism as you’re likely to get. Sure, there is a core religious concept called “Taoism” that can sort of be described as “everything is a zero-sum duality of a producer and a consumer, which returns to nothing in equilibrium”—but in practice, people who are Taoist have a whole bunch of other, much more interesting beliefs. There’s an instant-classic article wai…

I haven't read the article, but I'm already convinced that I'd much rather read YOUR article on the subject. If I'm not going to get that, can I at least get a few links to point towards more of what you're talking about?

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#12

Presbyterian, I think.

very emphatically.

"A deeply religious person, Church was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church.[7] He died in 1995 and was buried in Princeton Cemetery" wikipedia.

[7] "Introduction Alonzo Church: Life and Work" (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012. "A deeply religious person, he was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church."

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#13
post #8

I’m disappointed; this is as shallow an understanding of Taoism as you’re likely to get. Sure, there is a core religious concept called “Taoism” that can sort of be described as “everything is a zero-sum duality of a producer and a consumer, which returns to nothing in equilibrium”—but in practice, people who are Taoist have a whole bunch of other, much more interesting beliefs. There’s an instant-classic article wai…

Sounds to me like you should write those articles.

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#14
post #10

Others have pointed out the shallow connection to Taoism. But even the discussion of the lambda calculus does not seem to be insightful. For example, recursion in lambda calculus does not need names.

" For example, recursion in lambda calculus does not need names. "

You are right. Just a zest of Y-combinator and you can forget names as it is shown in section 4). And so you come back to pure lambda calculus. If you want more details have a look at http://lambdaway.free.fr/lambdaspeech/?view=kiss and http://lambdaway.free.fr/lambdaspeech/?view=factory_201902_p...

So, I'm disapointed that nobody could understand that my question about Tao was somewhat provocative. A bit of humour.

A more serious point, IMHO, is the similarity between Yin/Yang and Abstraction/Application. Your opinion?

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#15
So, I'm disapointed that nobody could understand that my question about Tao was somewhat provocative. A bit of humour, difficult to share... It's not an article on Tao!

A more serious point, IMHO, is the link between Yin/Yang and Abstraction/Application. Your opinion?

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#16
post #3

This is merely clickbait. It's a lambda-calculus circle jerk disguised as a philosophical question.

Just a little bit of humour on a subject, the lambda calculus, too often introduced so darkly. And if you read until the end you have links to more details. And your opinion will be welcome, always.

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#18
post #8

I’m disappointed; this is as shallow an understanding of Taoism as you’re likely to get. Sure, there is a core religious concept called “Taoism” that can sort of be described as “everything is a zero-sum duality of a producer and a consumer, which returns to nothing in equilibrium”—but in practice, people who are Taoist have a whole bunch of other, much more interesting beliefs. There’s an instant-classic article wai…

The article is not about Tao but more on some similitude between Tao's Yin/Yang and Lambda calculus' Abstraction/Appplication. Is it so difficult to understand?

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#19
post #11
post #8

I’m disappointed; this is as shallow an understanding of Taoism as you’re likely to get. Sure, there is a core religious concept called “Taoism” that can sort of be described as “everything is a zero-sum duality of a producer and a consumer, which returns to nothing in equilibrium”—but in practice, people who are Taoist have a whole bunch of other, much more interesting beliefs. There’s an instant-classic article wai…

I haven't read the article, but I'm already convinced that I'd much rather read YOUR article on the subject. If I'm not going to get that, can I at least get a few links to point towards more of what you're talking about?

" I haven't read the article, but I'm already convinced that ... "

Reading an article is not required to get an opinion about its quality ... it's well known!

Re: Was Alonzo Church Taoist?

#20
post #7

I don't see any connection between this article and Taoism at all, apart from a quote at the top and a sentence at the bottom, both of which seem unconnected to the rest of the article. What am I missing?

Don't you see some similarity between Yin/Yang and abstraction/application? Female vs male, delay vs force ...
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