I would like to hold my hands up and apply for penitence here, I am definitely guilty of that. A lot of it has to do with the fact that this is one of the few p

I would like to hold my hands up and apply for penitence here, I am definitely guilty of that. A lot of it has to do with the fact that this is one of the few places on the internet where the majority of people are capable and qualified to have these "work to rule" (lovely analogy) type of logical debates. In this environment I have a tendency to debate in this way simply because I find it very intellectually challenging and rewarding. It also may well come from the fact that I and others often comment here as a break from coding, and as such we are in a very rigid, strict logical mindset when we post. (I would hope however that I never use it as a get-out-clause in an argument I am losing. That is simply intellectually dishonest.) Also it is perhaps because I am still reading Godel Escher Bach, which is shot through with this kind of thinking, and still enjoying it immensely. Large tracts of it are in fact made up of the very type of debates you describe. This sounds like awful reading, but bear in mind they are written in the style of Lewis Carrol. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_E...