7 ms·
> Let n equal 3 if God exists, or 5 if God does not exist. Is n prime? [Not yet finished the article] Author says the answer is True. I say the question is ma
by denton-scratch 2y ago
> Let n equal 3 if God exists, or 5 if God does not exist. Is n prime?
[Not yet finished the article]
Author says the answer is True. I say the question is malformed, and cannot be answered.
- hifromwork 2y agoIsn't this the law of excluded middle (rejected by intuitionists and constructivists)?
- mrkeen 2y agoLet n equal 3 if LEM is valid & sound, or 5 if LEM isn't valid & sound. Is n prime?
- _flux 2y agoI guess you could reformulate the intent of the problem as: Let P be an arbitrary program and let n be equal to 3 if P terminates, or 5 if not. Is it still malformed? Is so, then how about Let n be equal to 3 Goldbach's conjecture is true, or 5 if not.
- IanCal 2y agoWhy can't it be answered? It seems trivial to answer.
- denton-scratch 2y agoThe question is malformed because it contains a term that cannot be evaluated.
- brabel 2y agoEven if evaluating that would make no difference?
- ReleaseCandidat 2y agoThat's the problem with side effects: you don't know if they make a difference until you evaluate them. And "God" is about the biggest imaginable side effect.
- kaba0 2y agoWell, the compiler says undefined behavior and optimizes it away :D
- denton-scratch 2y ago"God" has some unique properties. One of those might be that God neither exists nor doesn't exist. If God has this property of 'neitherism', then the value of n is undefined. Neitherism has been attributed to many religious entities. To answer a question, you first have to be able to parse the question.
- samatman 2y agoI see the question this way: fn is_n_prime_whether_or_not_God_exists() if (is_prime(3) && is_prime(5)) { // early return return true; } else { return three_if_God_exists_five_otherwise(); } }
- killerstorm 2y ago(A and X) or (A and (not X)) simplifies to A in classic logic. I guess there's an ambiguity whether "God exists" is a propositional variable.