Re[2]: computer-go: Please stop this pointless and blasphemous discussion !!!

[Roland <goprog@xxxxxxx>]

Hello Robert,

Monday, September 25, 2000, 6:22:43 AM, you wrote:

RJ> "GoGod" and "GoDevil" are specialized and well-defined terms in game
RJ> theory just like "tree" is such a term. As such these are meant to be 

Well, I could agree with you if people really used the exact
term(GoGod and NOT GOD), although I still have an objection which I
will explain later. The fact is, that some people used the term
God, which has a strong connotation in normal language.
Now to my second objection I think the idea to call a perfect player a "GoGod" was
 a poor one, because
this term was obviously inspired by the concept of God. The inventor of
the term GoGod seems to be unaware that God is not only omniscient but
also almighty(this of course will also vary according to the specific
cultural background as another reader pointed out). As such he
might not only know the perfect move but
also interfere in the playing of the opponent(either human or
machine/computer or even Devil) or change the status of the board by
making pieces appear, disappear at random locations etc...The creator
of the term GoGod obviously wanted only the quality of
omniscient.

RJ> For GoDevil I have not seen other terms except different spellings.
RJ> For GoGod other terms are used as well:
RJ> - God
this term is obviously ambiguous and seems to be the source of our
misunderstandings.

RJ> - perfect player
RJ> - omniscient player

RJ> - guru
this term is also ambiguous and from religious background?

RJ> Definitions for GoGod and GoDevil have been given relying on the 
RJ> concept of automatons.

Well this certainly is true, but the question is: have those terms
been chosen wisely? I think not. I mean, of course you can use any
word to define whatever you want, but it should somehow make sense and
preferably not be chosen such as to probably offend people from
certain cultural backgrounds. For orthodox Jews(which is not my case)
I think even writing down the word God is already a sin, and as for
the Christians there is a bible verse which says:
Deuteronomy 5:11 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God,
for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."

Otherwise we could also define the term "Yellow pancake" as synonym to
perfect player, or how about "Little Green Man with pink dots" or
"BeeBop", "Nasty bitch", "WukWuk", "Upraktiltum"...

PS: I remember once in the university I had a teacher who wanted to
show us that a God-like being could count all natural numbers. But he
was careful and told us he didn't want to offend any religious feelings so
he decided to use the term Zeus.

--
Best regards,
 Roland                            mailto:goprog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx