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Comment Threads

• Elderly Cynic commented on Yet another novel I will no longer write
  Proving internal consistency is typically harder than proving correctness or incorrectness! The point is that there are necessarily statements which cannot be classified as true, false or orthogonal to a set of axioms. And, by pushing that a bit further, there will necessarily be statements that are indescribably within those axioms. I agree with your statement about the universe. Even assuming it exists (not as trivial an issue as might appear), we have no reason to believe or disbelieve that it follows a set of 'laws' that we can even understand....
• Elderly Cynic commented on Yet another novel I will no longer write
  Sorry. "Orthogonal" = "consistent but not provable (or provably consistent)" in this context. I like dpb's comment :-)...
• Bill Arnold commented on Yet another novel I will no longer write
  Been seeing arguments on the US right (I think perhaps being pushed by Peter Navarro and others) about the negative health effects of a recession/depression. I have not read more than a small fraction of the literature, but there are apparently at least two camps of scholarship that don't talk much to each other. The other camp is exemplified by this (and I have not seen it getting much press): Life and death during the Great Depression (José A. Tapia Granados and Ana V. Diez Roux, October 13, 2009) For most age groups, mortality tended to peak during years of...
• Charlie Stross commented on Yet another novel I will no longer write
  "It'll all be over by Christmas" Let me make some predictions (this'll probably turn into a new post, tomorrow): starting with: No it won't. Vaccine development will take a flat minimum of 12 months. Then another 1-3 months to ramp up (on a Manhattan Project management basis) and a to-some-extent-overlapping 1-3 months to roll out around the various nations that are involved. (I predict the USA will merrily go its own way and faceplant, unless y'all elect a competent next POTUS. Or VPOTUS, insofar as Biden appears to be past it and Pence is incompetent at anything but arse-licking.) Meanwhile....
• Charlie Stross commented on Yet another novel I will no longer write
  On second thoughts? That new blog entry is up right now. Have at it: the comments on this one are now closed....