[Wittrs] Re: Following a rule
- From: "jrstern" <jrstern@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:43:59 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "iro3isdx" <xznwrjnk-evca@...> wrote:
>
> > Do we not stop at a red light, because LW has taught us
> > that rules are not absolute? We do learn rules.
>
> I think the answer is that we invent our own meaning for the
> rules. So we might follow what we mean by the rule, but that
> could be different from what was intended by the rule's
> originator. And that suggests that there is an element of
> invention in learning.
I'm not sure I'd want to call it "invention", but some kind
of implementation may be unique to us - only we know how to
do that "stop" thing specified by the red light rule, when it
is applied to us.
> > Nature follows rules, a lot, even such simple parts of
> > "the rules" of nature that our science has given us.
>
> There, I disagree. Part of why I disagree is the issue of whether
> scientific laws are prescriptive or descriptive. And part of my
> disagreement is the issue of whether causation should be
> considered the same as following rules.
I spoke in a misleading shorthand. Stricktly speaking, I don't
hope to know exactly what nature is or is not doing, but if I
follow certain rules, I will find nature doing what I expected.
> > Well, look, any machine is built - to follow rules.
>
> And there, I disagree. A machine is built so that in acting as it
> does by virtue of physical causation, it does what we want it to
> do. I don't see that as any kind of rule following.
I suggest looking more closely at the operation of a computer,
at the hardware level, and at the program level. Interestingly,
these can be exchanged for each other, but interestingly, not to
an unlimited degree (almost, but not quite).
Josh
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