[EM] Richard's frontrunners example

[MIKE OSSIPOFF]

> > So you're saying that b is true when it isn't making any prediction
> > about Y. When X is false, b says nothing true about whether Y is
> > true, and says nothing false about whether Y is true. And you claim
> > that b is true when it isn't taking a position about Y.
>
>That's the way "if" is used in mathematics.  I hope that we choose
>mathematical usage over common usage because common usage is not
>well-defined, and tends to be less convenient.

It's unavoidable that we speak English, or some other language that
we all speak, in order to discuss these things at all. I don't know
whether or not it's true that "if" has the different meaning in
mathematics that you say it has. I've never run across that different
definition. I notice that you didn't actually give us a definition
of "if".

Would I be right to say that you mean that in a situation where
a statement isn't saying anything about proposition y, it's assumed
to be saying something true about proposition y? When isn't saying anything 
at all about proposition y? If mathematicians say that's
so, does that mean it's so, or could it be that the statement still
isn't saying anything about proposition y?

Anyway, it doesn't make any difference, because if we believe your
interpretation and Richards about that, then Richard is saying that
one problem exists, but if we don't take your interpretation, that
just means that the problem that Richard claims is replaced by another
problem, if we accept Richard's overall priorities, and his assumptions
about what Bart said.

I'll get those priorities & assumptions in a subsequent message.

Mike Ossipoff

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