Re: [ontolog-forum] What words mean

[Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx>]

At 2:40 PM -0500 2/15/08, John F. Sowa wrote:

> Rob and Pat,
>
> Please note that "treating" something as random does not
> mean that
> it *is* random.  It only means that for certain kinds of
> processing
> the assumption of randomness happens to be a useful
> approximation.

Yes indeedy. In fact, whether or not anything can be really random is still somewhat controversial, even among physicists, though I gather the empirical confirmation of the Bell inequality is widely reckoned to have settled the question (yes, Virginia, there are really random things going on.)

Pat

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