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  1. Newsgroups: talk.environment
  2. Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU!CSD-NewsHost!jmc
  3. From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
  4. Subject: Re: "Keep Your Pollution!" (Article)
  5. In-Reply-To: mike@execu.execu.com's message of 30 Jul 92 15:13:16 GMT
  6. Message-ID: <JMC.92Jul31005352@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>
  7. Sender: news@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU
  8. Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
  9. Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
  10. References: <1992Jul29.184512.13509@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
  11.     <JMC.92Jul29145701@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>
  12.     <1992Jul29.233204.23999@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
  13.     <3601@execu.execu.com>
  14. Distribution: usa
  15. Date: 31 Jul 92 00:53:52
  16. Lines: 26
  17.  
  18. Consider the following four ideas:
  19.  
  20. 1. The idea that the positions of the planets can be accurately
  21. observed by telescopes and predicted by integrating Newton's
  22. gravitational equations.
  23.  
  24. 2. The idea that steam engines are an effective way of propelling
  25. vehicles that carry goods on land and sea.
  26.  
  27. 3. The idea that the free market is an effective way of motivating
  28. people to produce what other people need.
  29.  
  30. 4. The idea that free elections lead to better governments than
  31. absolute monarchies, hereditary oligarchies or one party dictatorships.
  32.  
  33. Which of them can be considered facts about the world, valid for
  34. all human societies, and which were "forced" upon the unwilling
  35. or are the results of intoxication?
  36.  
  37.  
  38.  
  39. --
  40. John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
  41. *
  42. He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
  43.  
  44.