On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Philip Hart wrote: >On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, David Silberstein wrote: >> >> On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Philip Hart wrote: > >> >> I have sometimes toyed with the notion that, if one were to be granted >> >> 3 wishes, that the first wish would be to instantly know the >> >> consequences of all of ones actions (and as long as we're wishing, >> >> ones inactions). >> > >> >I believe this runs into paradox - see philosphers on the concept of >> >a Book of Knowledge. >> >> Ah, Goedel. Ruining everything with that darned incompleteness. > >I don't think this concerned axiomatic arithmetic - I can look on the >web if you care. > As I understand it, Goedel's Proof of Incompleteness has deeper ramifications than just mathematical systems. As I recall, other famously proofs of unknowability, eg., Turing's Halting Problem are just mappings of Goedel's Proof onto other systems. >> >> Not destroying the universe might also be considered a pitfall. > [snippage] > >If someone destroys the universe, we will start again from scratch. >If you point me towards the fuse I think that I can find a match. > Of course, then the question arises, how should a *proper* universe be designed? I recently stumbled across an anecdote, which you perhaps know of: According to a story well known in the physics community, after his death in 1958 Pauli was granted an audience with God. Pauli asked God why the fine structure constant has the value 1/(137.036...). God nodded, went to a blackboard, and began scribbling equations at a furious pace. Pauli watched Him with great satisfaction, but soon began shaking his head violently... http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli