HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART:
Given two statements detected by the sensors, there is absolutely
no reason to choose AND over OR as the interpretation.
Wrong. The choice here is determined by the TRUTH
CONDITIONS on the use of the words 'and' and 'or'. not by anything to do with
the observations themselves. P AND Q means that both of P and Q are true. You
say this yourself, above, when you say that ".. detected Paul at the water fountain,
and Wanda at the water fountain.." Notice the 'and' in there. To repeat,
this has nothing whatever to do with any kind of 'connection' between the P and
the Q. They can be utterly unrelated to one another in any way at all: still,
the truth conditions on (P and Q) are different from those for (P or Q)
Perhaps you are trying to say that the
product of all observations is true, therefore:
S[0]^S[1]^…^S[N] = True.
So you are assuming all observations are
valid consistent and true statements?
Thoughtfully,
-Rich
Sincerely,
Rich Cooper
EnglishLogicKernel.com
Rich AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com