4 ms·

There is a communication mode that can't be used to make false statements, really?

• whatshisface 9y ago
  It's a bit off-topic, but there are indeed many! The simplest that I can think of is the grammar that produces all statements of the form (N not gates) <-> (N+2 not gates). Although, the search for a real answer to your question is an active subject in philosophy. What I was really talking about was how there are a huge number of "methods of convincing" that work better for the truth than for lies - sometimes so much better that they essentially don't work for lies at all. An example of that kind would be pointing at an object everyone can see and saying, "that thing, there."
  • optimuspaul 9y ago
    this response confused me more than the initial statement. I don't understand how anybody can be prevented from making false statements.
    • infogulch 9y ago
      GP's point is more narrow than you are taking it. You think he's saying: > There is a mode of communication in which true statements can be expressed easily and false statements cannot be expressed. Which would be nice, sure, but cannot exist, hence your confusion. But what GP is actually saying is closer to: > There exist some forms of communication for which some statements are so trivially proven that lies are pointless because they'll be disproven almost instantly. This makes no claim about which statements can be expressed like this, let alone all of them, just that it's possible to have some statements expressed like this; which is a necessary precondition to inventing something more generally applicable.