OFF: reply to the truth is out there

[Paul Mather]

On Mon, 24 Nov 1997, M Holmes wrote:

> Not that I think this argument is remotely interesting or anything but
> it might as well stick to normal rules of logic if it's going to happen
> at all.
>
> 1) It's *impossible* to prove the nonexistence of anything. A few
> seconds actual thought should be enough to provide anyone with the
> reasons for this.

Just a point of information: I concur regarding the physical world.
However, with abstract realms, it is entirely possible to prove the
nonexistance of things.  For example, Turing proved that no algorithm
exists to determine whether another algorithm will halt or not for a
given input.  (And, yes, this is a pretty important result for the
physical world.)

Cheers,

Paul.

obCD: <none> (hardware being repaired)

e-mail: paul at gromit.cs.vt.edu

"I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time"
        --- James Marshall Hendrix