Re: [OFFTOPIC] Goedel and the mathematic (was: Re: Copyright from the lcs-projekt!? [dwarf@polaris.net: Re: First cut at testing and validation]
On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, Alexander Shinn wrote:
> What does this mean with respect to the original topic? I think (and
> could very well be wrong) the claim was you cannot expect Debian to have
> a license system that is complete, in the sense that it can't have a set
> of axiomatic licenses which handle themselves and all other packages.
> This may be correct, since the key features to Goedell's Theorem, and
> Russell's and related paradoxes is that you must be able to have
> self-reference and universality. For instance, if the GPL applied to
> itself, people would be able to rewrite the license. So you might in fact
> need to have some sort of non-free core of Debian which contains just the
> licenses and nothing else. It at least requires some thought.
Kurt Godel proved that no finite set of axioms (strong enough to yield the
elementary facts about arithmetic) will ever be able to answer every
mathematical question. It does not matter how thorough or clever we are --
we can never choose a complete set of axioms.
But, as far as Debian is concerned we have a bigger problem. The system
defined my Debian's License Policy is not rich enough to add 1+1 let alone
all the other stuff needed to build arithmetic. Now given time and a bit
of effort such a system might be built.
But, at this moment Godel's Theorm does not apply.
-----
Dale James Thompson (thompd1@texhoma.net)
He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.
-- M.C. Escher
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