[TAG] [peter.maxwell at anu.edu.au: Re: [LG 101] mailbag #2 - Stephen Bint]

[Jimmy O'Regan]

Jay R. Ashworth wrote:

>On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 10:40:21AM -0400, Ben Okopnik wrote:
>  
>
>>On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 09:18:56AM -0400, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 03:49:23AM +0100, Jimmy O'Regan wrote:
>>>      
>>>
>>>>>>>>I would go further; it's my opinion that there is no more honourable way 
>>>>>>>>to die than to die in the pursuit of your beliefs, 
>>>>>>>>                
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>No matter what the beliefs happen to be?
>>>>>>>              
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>Hmm. That's true. I'm sure I wouldn't admire anyone who died in the 
>>>>>>pursuit of their belief that they can fly like Superman.
>>>>>>            
>>>>>>
>>>>>Well, interestingly enough, this is one of those slippery slopes... I
>>>>>gather that his situation was not entirely dissimilar to that... from
>>>>>our point of view.
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>Not really. It's the impossible vs. the merely unlikely.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Hmmm... value judgement, not an absolute.  Which makes my point, I
>>>think.
>>>      
>>>
>> 
>>Got a way to state absolutes instead of value judgements, Jay? I'd be
>>fascinated.
>>    
>>
>
>Well, no; and that was sort of my point; Jimmy's reply to me assumes
>that you *can* ("the impossible").
>  
>
Fine then, here's how it'd look if I was to write it for Wikipedia.

The difference between the abolition of land ownership and flying like 
Superman, is the difference between the "merely unlikely" and the 
"impossible"; though the abolition of land ownership may strike most as 
impossible, land ownership is a relatively recent historical 
development. Before this, land was held in common, available for the use 
of all. Since there are many benefits to the idea of land being held in 
common, the idea may gain enough adherents to become reality, though it 
is unlikely to gain enough followers to become widespread. Flying like 
Superman, i.e. without the assistance of any form of technology, though 
a belief held by some, has not been proven possible and most, if not 
all, examples of metaphysical levitation have been debunked by magicians 
as examples of illusion (Balducci levitation).