Paradox: NO OPPRESSION IN AMERICA

Those of you who took Logic 1001 will recall the paradox known as 
"The Heap" which goes like this:

1. A single grain of sand does not constitute a heap of sand.
2. You can create a heap from a non-heap by adding a single grain of sand.
3. Therefore, there is *NO SUCH THING* as a heap of sand.

You with me here?  Okay, this is important, because the public actually does 
think like this:

1. Our current society in America is not oppressive. (generally accepted)

2. You cannot change a non-oppressive society into an oppressive society
   by removing one liberty from its citizens.   (also generally accepted)

3. Therefore, it is not possible for America to become an oppressive society.


Sleep well,
Douglas B. Renner

Douglas Renner writes:
>  Those of you who took Logic 1001 will recall the paradox known
>  as "The Heap" which goes like this:

Hey, a liberty here, some freedom there, and pretty soon you're talking  
about real totalitarianism!


andrew
"It could never happen here."

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Well I'm just grumpy enough right now to tear this apart... :)

On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Douglas B. Renner wrote:

> Those of you who took Logic 1001 will recall the paradox known as 
> "The Heap" which goes like this:
> 
> 1. A single grain of sand does not constitute a heap of sand.

An debatable but valid assumption.

> 2. You can create a heap from a non-heap by adding a single grain of sand.

How is a non-heap defined? 1 grain? 0 grains? If (2) is to be true, it 
can't be 0, since you assumed (1), so a non-heap must be 1 grain.

> 3. Therefore, there is *NO SUCH THING* as a heap of sand.

Huh? How do you draw that conclusion? (1) and (2) are not contradictory in
any way. You said 1 grain is not a heap, but >1 is. Fine. Valid way of
defining a heap/non-heap of sand. Nothing to do with (3).

> 
> You with me here?  Okay, this is important, because the public actually does 
> think like this:

Very debatable. Very general.

> 
> 1. Our current society in America is not oppressive. (generally accepted)

Very debatable.

> 
> 2. You cannot change a non-oppressive society into an oppressive society
>    by removing one liberty from its citizens.   (also generally accepted)

Rubbish. If the government removes all liberties at once, that's 
oppressive, but if they do it one at a time, it's not?

> 
> 3. Therefore, it is not possible for America to become an oppressive society.
> 

More Rubbish. Not only are your assumptions flawed, but the heap
argument and the oppression argument are entirely unrelated.

Nothing personal, mind you. :)

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Jeremey Barrett
Senior Software Engineer                         jeremey@veriweb.com
VeriWeb Internet Corp.                           http://www.veriweb.com/

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		"less is more."  -- Mies van de Rohe.
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On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Jeremey Barrett wrote:
> 
> Rubbish. If the government removes all liberties at once, that's 


If I went over your head, I apologize!
The point of a paradox such as this is to illustrate something which is 
OBVIOUSLY FALLACIOUS, so that we might learn from it.  The intention is 
to make us *think*.


-Doug

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On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Douglas B. Renner wrote:

> 
> 
> On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Jeremey Barrett wrote:
> > 
> > Rubbish. If the government removes all liberties at once, that's 
> 
> 
> If I went over your head, I apologize!
> The point of a paradox such as this is to illustrate something which is 
> OBVIOUSLY FALLACIOUS, so that we might learn from it.  The intention is 
> to make us *think*.

I have seen many a post more foolish that was intended in all seriousness.
My point is that neither your first nor second arguments are a paradox, 
nor do they relate to one another. I agree that many people may not
see their freedoms being whittled away, simply because they are being
whittled away, as opposed to eliminated all at once. If that is your
point however, it was unclear. Apologies if you were upset by my response.

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Jeremey Barrett
Senior Software Engineer                         jeremey@veriweb.com
VeriWeb Internet Corp.                           http://www.veriweb.com/

PGP Key fingerprint =  3B 42 1E D4 4B 17 0D 80  DC 59 6F 59 04 C3 83 64
PGP Public Key: http://www.veriweb.com/people/jeremey/pgpkey.html
                
		"less is more."  -- Mies van de Rohe.
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