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

[Don Dailey <drd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Roland,

First of all I want to  apologize for coming on a  little strong in my
email to you (the one you quoted from me.)  Also, I see that you are a
reasonable person which I never doubted.

I'm not going to quote the last email  (it keeps growing!)  but I will
quote some excerpts from it and try to keep things brief.


> Well, the fact is that I guess most or many of the readers of this
> list belong to a western/Christian culture and should know about the
> implications and meaning that the word God has to many in our
> western/Christian culture. At least those who I am arguing with seem
> to be western judging from the names and e-mail addresses.

Most people use terms that are familiar  to them and the audience they
expect to  be   listening.  Now think  about  this.   We  are  posting
technical material, on the INTERNET in English.


> Many understand tolerance as a one-way road. You demand that others be
> tolerant with the way you think, but you should understand that
> tolerance means also respecting other people's believes. 

Respecting someone elses belief doesn't mean they are not allowed make
any references to it.



> DD> On top of that, "God" is about as generic as you can get.  I seriously
> DD> doubt you will be able  to tell the religion,  or lack of from anyones
> DD> use of the word "GoGod."
> 
> The term is generic for atheists who only have a concept in mind.
> For religious people the word God may have very specific meaning,
> depending of course on the religion and culture. 

In a nutshell,  we are drifting off  topic which I KNOW  will probably
start to offend people.  But I'll say just  this and then I promise to
shut up:

The word "god" is just a title.  A lot of religions have multiple gods
with multiple names   and  with different characteristics.   Even  the
bible has  tons of  references to  different gods.   In fact, there is
much disagreement about whether the "main god"  of the bible, Jehovah,
is really several rolled up in one (the trinity god), or just one God.
That's why I say this really is a generic term.

And yes, the  term may in   fact have very   specific meaning to  some
folks.  But,  and I stress this strongly,  the context in which I used
the term should be crystal clear to anyone reading these posts.



> Well, after some posts, I begin to wonder if it was wise at all to
> start this arguing. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, I don't know
> if it's really making any difference. 

This "argument" has been remarkably civil.  But I am feeling as you do
too, I'm sorry I got  caught up in it  and I  know people are  getting
sick of reading about it by now!


> Some people just become defensive and don't want to  give up their way
> of thinking. I think the starting point was when someone wrote that he
> could win  against God when  having a  pawn  advantage in chess.  This
> somehow really upset me and I couldn't restrain from writing something
> about the issue. Should I   have kept my  mouth  shut? I really  don't
> know...And I don't think  that I am  one  of those who  becomes easily
> offended.

To be honest, I flinched a little bit too at  Vincents comment.  But I
had no problem letting it pass, I know he meant no harm.  I didn't get
the feeling he was "personalizing" this.  He was really saying that he
felt a pawn is too big an advantage not to win with perfect play.


> After  all you  hear blasphemy  everywhere, it just  somehow makes you
> feel  really  bad if  you have a  personal believe.  And  now that I'm
> writing this lines  I  just remembered something:  you  certainly know
> about the good old "unsinkable" TITANIC. Well, I remember that shortly
> after it was finished someone claimed:"If this ship may sink? Not even
> GOD can  sink this ship!" Hmmm,  I wonder if  at that time the TITANIC
> was the "perfect ship" for them. It didn't need God  to sink the ship,
> a simple iceberg  was  enough. Nowadays  people are  more careful, you
> don't hear about unsinkable ships anymore.

Good analogy!  


Don