Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

W00t! Snow is cool... especially when it gets you out of classes. I only wish it had gotten me out of my early class today. Instead, I get to miss my later class, which I don't mind attending, but I have to listen to my aesthetics teacher drone on about conceptual and aesthetic properties. She was making no sense, her information was so logically flawed, and when a few of us tried to point this out, she just blew us off as speaking of unrelated matters.

Here's what I mean: She claims that given a description of a piece of art (painting, sculpture, music, etc), you cannot claim to know any aesthetic properties of that art (beautiful, dynamic, fiery, interesting, etc). However, you COULD claim to know what properties it DIDN'T have. We tried to explain that this depends on how detailed the description was, and that someone telling you a painting is "red, with vertical lines" isn't enough to say the painting is OR isn't "fiery". However, if they were so detailed in their description that you could actually picture the exact painting in your mind, then you could ascribe aesthetic properties. The teacher tried to say that no level of detail in your description could be enough. This is lunacy so far as I'm concerned, as well as with much of the class.

Enough of that. Let's see, yesterday was a broken day for me. I didn't have either of my classes because the teacher had jury duty, and then I was only at work for about an hour and a half because we had too many people working and not enough work to do. So much for making up that $600 I spent; I made $6.

I did get to spend the evening otherwise, however, thanks to having no work; De (should it be "D" or "De"?) and I went to the mall, had coffee, watched the hamsters run around, climb on each other, and *cough*mate*cough*. It was a fun evening, except now she's going to teach me how to knit! *runs and hides*

I guess that's about all I have to say. The library here closes in 30 minutes, so I think I'll go home and catch up on some homework. Bis später meine Freunde und meine Freundinnen!

P.S. - Don't forget... Mmmm... Banana!

My Logical Discovery

Ok, this is how I beat the teacher/author (depending on who actually screwed up the proof)...

Here is the proof as shown by my teacher:

Key Terms -

• Op: a fact or condition about the world that would be true in all possible worlds(for instance, the laws of logic and mathematics)
• Np: a fact or condition about the world that no human(s) could even remotely be morally responsible for (for instance, the state of the universe before humanity existed)
• S: Any single moment in history. (for the purposes of this proof, we'll take one before humanity existed)
• L: The laws of nature
• T: Any truth
• ->: this is an "if, then" modifier. It means "this, therefore that"

Logical Rules -

• Rule A: Op -> Np (If something is true in all possible worlds, then no human can be held morally responsible for it)
• Rule B: Np + N(p -> q) -> Nq (If no human can be held responsible for some fact p, and if p is true, then q must be true too, then no human can be held responsible for q either)

Proof -

• O((S + L) -> T) (this is the definition of what determinism is, as the author describes it. "Any one moment in history, plus the laws of nature, can reveal the truth about any other time or place." The O in front is controversial, in that it might be possible for other worlds to exist where determinism is not true.)
• O(S -> (L -> T)) (this is just logical rearrangement. All you need to know is that it means the same thing as the first statement. Essentially the first one is allowing either S or L to change, causing T to be true. The second, however, is saying that if we fix S, then only L can change to cause T to be true)
• N(S -> (L -> T)) (Using Rule A, I can change the O to an N)
• Ns (This is a premise. This represents a moment for which no human is responsible. An instance of this would be a time before humans existed. Humans cannot be responsible for something that happened before they existed. There obviously was a time before humans existed, so this is a valid premise.)
• N(L -> T) (Using Rule B, I can say that no human is responsible for the fact that the laws of nature entail what is true. I can do this, because the above premise states that there is a time for which no human is responsible.)
• Nl (Another premise. This says that no human is responsible for the laws of nature. I think it is relatively obvious that this is true.)
• Nt (This is the conclusion. Using Rule B again, we can say that no human is morally responsible for any truth. That would include any actions, thoughts, facts, etc about the world. I can do this because the above premise states that no human is responsible for the laws of nature.)

I found this to be a very powerful argument, that on the surface, beyond the logical figures, makes great sense. If the past and the laws of nature determine our future, and we cannot control the past or the laws of nature, how can be be held responsible for what we do in our futures?

There still was that problem with that first statement though. As we were discussing the matter, however, it occurred to me that if determinism is true, that no human would be responsible for its being true. Furthermore, it would seem that the very process of determinism is in itself a law of nature! Since we cannot be held responsible for the laws of nature, we cannot be held responsible for determinism!

I raised my hand. When the teacher called on me, I pointed out that it would be easier to just say "

N((S + L) -> T)" in the first statement. He looked that over, figured out where the argument would go from there, and after a moment, agreed with me. Not only did this solve the original problem, but it also removed the need for rule A completely, and simplified the argument to look like this:

• N((S + L) -> T)
• N(S -> (L -> T))
• Ns
• N(L -> T)
• Nl
• Nt

Thus, I defeated the author/teacher in discovering the best possible proof. The person in front of me told me that I should write a book. I think this blog entry will do. On Tuesday, we will discuss other objections to this argument, and I'm sure I will discover that my findings about this argument are pointless because the whole argument is wrong somehow. For now, however, I will enjoy my moment of triumph!

I hope you were all able to understand the proof I laid out above. Please comment if there is anything that is unclear, and I will try to remedy the confusion. Thanks everyone!

Waking Up

Good morning everyone! Yes, it is still morning as I write this, so long as you don't live in Europe or Asia, although some of you out there apparently do. I'm only here now because my PHIL 150 teacher has jury duty today, and I don't have class. I wonder if I'll have my class later, since I have the same teacher.

Anyways, here I am up in the library again. I found this generally quite place with computers (something I didn't expect) and with a great view. It's nice... I think I'll be up here a lot more in the coming weeks.

Yesterday, I called up the mechanic who worked on my car Monday, and was told that they ran into a few "problems" along the way to repairing it. Long story short, I ended up owing then $637... Over $200 more than the estimate I was given. I had been saving up money from work for the last month... It's gone in one moment. Car troubles really suck.

Ha, and then things got even better.I went over to the financial department here at school after my classes. I need to ask then a few questions about my bill for the spring semester. I'll make this story short too, and say that Charlestown, which owed me $1000 per semester (500 for my 2 years, 500 for the Davis-Lewis scholarship), only gave me first $500 for each the fall and the spring. Yes, they are going to send the extra money, but now mom is mad at me for having to ask her to pull extra money from my trust fund to cover their mistake. That extra money will end up in my savings account (which I need anyway), but mom assumes that I will therefore piddle it away. Either she just doesn't listen, or she doesn't understand.

Well, ok, so my day wasn't ALL bad. I did get to "correct" the logical proof my teacher put on the board. We were talking about determinism, and the author we're reading was trying to prove that moral responsibility and determinism are incompatible. Well... I'll make a separate post about the proof for anyone who's interested... But it would take too long to explain here.

Later, I also got to take my girlfriend out to see "Hitch" last night. I really enjoyed the movie. It was funny, well made, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't inspirational too.


Playing with M&M's was fun too!

So now, here I am, waiting to learn that my second class is also cancelled, so I can go home and then head off to work for the evening. I'll probably catch up on some reading while I have the time, and hopefully we have a busy night at work, because I need the money.

I suppose that's all I have to say I guess. I suppose that's all I have to say I guess...

"Wake up and face each day like it's on purpose" Alex Hitchins.

Stuff

Here's something random I found. I liked the answers I got

Your love is... by ChibiMarronchan
Your name is...
Your kiss is...	mysterious
Your hugs are...	to die for
Your eyes...	light up a day
Your touch is...	heart warming
Your smell is...	refreshing
Your smile is...	entrancing
Your love is...	everlasting
Quiz created with MemeGen!

So I was messing around with this music editing software I downloaded a trial of (it's how I created the song file you hear every time you come to my blog), and changed a couple of songs. It's all very basic stuff, and by the time I get good at doing any mixing, the trial with expire so it's not really worth it. I felt like putting my creations up here for you all to see though.

The HTML involved and geocities are being stubborn, so I can't put the link for these here for you. If you copy and paste these URLs into your address box, they should download. Obviously the first is "Gibberish" by Relient K, and the second is "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot.

http://www.geocities.com/loadsite127/Relient_K_Gibberish.mp3

http://www.geocities.com/loadsite127/Switchfoot_Dare_You_to_Move.mp3

Exploring

Hello again, all you loyal readers. Welcome to another edition of "Why Your Life Is Better Than Mine!"

Ok, so I don't know about that, my life isn't that bad. Especially now that my hair is a little shorter... Yes, I let my g/f cut my hair last night. She did a pretty good job too, considering that she had never cut anyone else's hair before. I can still style it the way I want to at least, and I don't hear anyone snickering behind my back yet...

I'm sure you wouldn't rather have my life right now in this respect: I just talked to my mechanic, and that biker I've been dragging is going to cost me $400 or more to remove (actually, it's something with my brakes, I think he has to replace them). And I don't want to hear from anyone that I should buy a new car!

Hmmm, so the IMC (where I am now) is closing at 2:30, so when it does, I think I'm going to go exploring around campus, maybe check out the library, looking for a nice, quiet spot. I need a place I can go to study, rest, read, or just enjoy myself without interruption. I work later tonight, and after that repair bill, I need to make a lot of money...

'Til later ya'll!


~~God is love... Love is blind... Ray Charles is blind... Ray Charles is God... Ray Charles is dead... God is dead...~~ (not quite, but I thought it was funny)