>From nomic-official-owner@teleport.com Thu Aug 17 03:37:35 1995 Received: from desiree.teleport.com (desiree.teleport.com [192.108.254.11]) by Shamino.quincy.edu (8.6.12/8.6.9) with ESMTP id DAA11318 for ; Thu, 17 Aug 1995 03:37:24 -0500 Received: (from daemon@localhost) by desiree.teleport.com (8.6.10/8.6.9) id BAA22772 for nomic-official-outgoing; Thu, 17 Aug 1995 01:35:04 -0700 Received: from wing4.wing.rug.nl (wing4.wing.rug.nl [129.125.21.4]) by desiree.teleport.com (8.6.10/8.6.9) with SMTP id BAA22762 for ; Thu, 17 Aug 1995 01:34:59 -0700 Message-Id: <199508170834.BAA22762@desiree.teleport.com> Received: by wing4.wing.rug.nl (1.37.109.8/16.2) id AA02600; Thu, 17 Aug 1995 10:33:52 +0200 >From: Andre Engels Subject: OFF: CFJ 805: Judgement To: nomic-official@teleport.com Date: Thu, 17 Aug 95 10:33:52 METDST Mailer: Elm [revision: 70.85] Sender: owner-nomic-official@teleport.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: nomic-discussion@teleport.com Status: RO ###################################################################### ASSIGNMENT CFJ 805 Statement: "The Rules should be interpreted so that the Contest named person became a Player as of the posting of this message (the CFJ text, including the Contest announcement and person's request to be a Player) to the Public Forum." ====================================================================== Judge: Ian Judgement: FALSE Eligible: Andre, Chuck, Dave Bowen, favor, Garth, Ian, Kelly, KoJen, Michael, Steve, SugarWater, Vanyel, Vlad, Xanadu, Zefram Not Eligible: Caller: Swann Barred: none On Hold: Bryan, elJefe, JonRock, Pascal Effects of this CFJ (*: new in this report) * Ian receives 5 Points for speedy Judgement ====================================================================== History: Called by Swann, Wed, 9 Aug 1995 19:31 -0400 Assigned to Ian, Tue, 15 Aug 1995 13:39 +0200 Judged FALSE by Ian, Wed, 16 Aug 1995 08:24 -0700 ====================================================================== Arguments of the Caller: Please consider the following Contest (this is also the announcement of same as required by 1446/2): ------------------Contest Announcement and Regulations----------------- Swann announces the following Contest. (Please note that the Name of this Nomic Entity is the single word, "person.") Name: person Regulations: 1) The person's Contestmaster is Swann. 2) Only the person's Contestmaster may change the person's regulations. 3) The entry fee to this Contest is 3 Marks. 4) Only the person may be a Contestant. 5) The Contestmaster acts as the Executor of this Contest, as well as all Contestants thereof. 6) The person, through this Regulation, requests to be Registered as a Player of Agora Nomic as specified in Rule 869/2. The person wishes eir nickname to be "Myrmidon." Registrar take note. [This Regulation self-deletes once the described action is performed] 7) The person, Myrmidon, through this Regulation, informs the Banker that e transfers eir 3 starting Marks (via Rule 1080/1) to the Contest Named person, and therefore becomes a Contestant in that Contest. (This transfer is still made, even if the Treasuries being transferred to and from are the same.) [This Regulation self-deletes once the described action is performed] 8) The person, Myrmidon, through this Regulation, informs the Assessor that e votes exactly as Swann does on each Proposal currently up for vote. (In any case where Swann used an EV to vote two different ways, Myrmidon abstains.) [This Regulation self-deletes once the described action is performed] 9) The person, Myrmidon, through this Regulation, informs the Scorekeepor that e transfers all starting Points to Swann's Emergency Point Holding Contest. [This Regulation self-deletes once the described action is performed] 10) The person, Myrmidon, through this Regulation, informs the CotC that, if Myrmidon is not listed as eligible to Judge the CFJ which contains the Contest named person then Myrmidon issues a COE over the omission. [This Regulation self-deletes once the described action is performed] 11) This contest dissolves when Myrmidon is deregistered. 12) Every act by Myrmidon requires a Regulation to describe it. If the act requires the Contestmaster to notify someone, the posting of the new Regulation in the Public Forum will be that notification. ----------End of Contest Announcement and Regulations------------ Admittedly, this is a bizarre turn of events. However I wish to point out Rule 869/2's language on the subject of who/what can be Registered as a Player: "A Player is any person who is registered as a Player. Registration occurs when a person who is not a Player sends a message to the Public Forum requesting to be Registered. . ." Admittedly the "person" in 869/2 is not intended to include "person" the Contest. (It couldn't, since it predates the Contest Rule.) But if we allow, in this one instance, *intent* to color the Judgement of this CFJ, we will be overthrowing a long enshrined tradition that the letter of the Rule *is* the Rule. Not only that, the language in 869/2 is deliberately expansive. It says "any person" in fact. And the above Contest is certainly a "person who is not a Player." (At least until Reg 6 is invoked.) To go even further, prior to my Contest, there was no legal definition of a "person," enshrined in the Ruleset. A person was *not* a Nomic Entity defined in the Ruleset. Rule 869/2 could, therefore, be said to allow (before the Contest) non-human "persons" to be Registered. Aliens from Alpha Centauri, Intelligent Otters, and Artificial Intelligence Devices, all of these could have, before the Contest, become Players. (As long as they had an e-mail account :) This expansive person-hood has been extended to include one composite player, and may have, as far as we can confirm, included non-terrestrial intelligence's either now, or at sometime in the past. It is my contention that the letter of 869/2 clearly allows the Registration of my Contest. In answer to a possible counter argument, 869/2 does continue: "No person may be registered as a Player more than once concurrently." The establishment of Myrmidon the Player certainly violates the spirit of this clause, insofar that Myrmidon is my complete, mindless and willing slave. However, I doubt that any interpretation of the Rules could establish myself and the Contest as the same "person," which is the requirement to violate this clause. In fact, I can go further and state that it is now impossible to have more than one person in the game as long as this Contest exists. Note my statement above: "Prior to my Contest, there was no legal definition of a "person" enshrined in the Ruleset. A person was *not* a Nomic Entity defined in the Ruleset." Now, however, by virtue of the Contest Rule, there is now a Nomic Entity defined as a person, the above Contest. Now according to 1011/0: "No two Nomic Entities (including Players) shall have the same name or nickname." This implies that now there can be only one "person" as far as Agora is concerned. In which case, after the creation of my Contest, all references to a person (at least in MI<2 Rules) must therefore now refer to my Contest-- or, at the very least, they must include the Contest "person" as part of a larger English definition of "person." (i.e. person retains its definition in the outside world, but in internal Agora matters it refers to my Contest. This would allow people to continue to register, but it has some side effects on Patent Titles and Degrees.) I wish to thank Zefram's Nomic Potato Contest for giving me the idea for this scam ====================================================================== Arguments of Judge: This CFJ rests squarely on the definition of "person" in Rule 869/2: "A Player is any person who is registered as a Player." Definition of "person" (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1981): 1. A living human being, especially as distinguished from an animal or a thing. 2. The composite of characteristics that make up an individual personality. 3. An individual of some specified character. 4. The living body of a human being. 5. Guise; character. 6. Physique and general appearance. 7. A human being or organization with legal rights and duties. 8. The separate individualities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as distinguished from the essence of the Godhead that unites them. These definitions are not equal: the lower the definitions number, the more accepted as "usual" it is. One can see that the first definition is far more often used than the last. There are two reasons that I will not accept defintion 7 for Rule 869/2. First, since they are in order of common acceptance, if we accept #7, we must also accept #s 1-6, and #6, at least, is not acceptable - we can't have any guise of any person accepted as a Player - the idea is for each person to be a Player. If we accept #6, each person could adopt several guises and become several Players, which is not what we want. Secondly, #7 says "with legal rights and duties." However, nowhere is the Rules is a Contest given the right to be a "person" (#1). Since it doesn't have the right to be a person (#1), it can't be a Player. For another take on this, just because the Contest is named "person" does not make it "a person". It is still a Contest. ====================================================================== Evidence: ---------------------------------------- Rule 869/2 (Mutable, MI=1) Registered Players A Player is any person who is registered as a Player. Registration occurs when a person who is not a Player sends a message to the Public Forum requesting to be Registered. No person may be registered as a Player more than once concurrently. If a Player has to be identified for whatever purpose, then the use of that Player's Agora nickname is preferred, but not obligatory: *any* unambiguous way of identification is allowed. History: ... Amended(1) by Proposal 1313, Nov. 12 1994 Amended(2) by Proposal 1437, Feb. 21 1995 ---------------------------------------- Rule 1446/2 (Mutable, MI=1) Contests A contest is a subgame of Agora Nomic, having its own Name, Entry Fee, Regulations, Contestmaster, and Contest Fund. It is created when a Player posts to the Public Forum an announcement of the contest, including the Name and Regulations. Participants in the subgame are called Contestants of that contest. The player making the post becomes the Contestmaster. The Contestmaster for a given Contest is a Player who has responsibility for administering the subgame. He reports all currency transfers taking place under the Regulations, is the Executor of the Contest Fund, and maintains the Regulations. The Contest Fund is a Treasury, as provided for in other Rules. The owner of this Treasury is the Contest, and the Executor of this Treasury is, at all times, the Contestmaster of the Contest. The Regulations specify the operation of the Contest. All Contestants, and the Contestmaster, are bound by the Regulations except where these conflict with the Rules. They may also specify: 1. how a Contestmaster is replaced. However, no person may become Contestmaster without eir consent; 2. how the Currencies in the Contest Fund shall be spent, so long as this does not conflict with the Rules; 3. the amount of the Entry Fee for the Contest, in the form of units one or more Currency; 4. additional restrictions on Players to become Contestants, and conditions under which Contestants cease to be Contestants; 5. how the Regulations may be changed. If they do not so specify, the Regulations may not be changed. Whenever the Regulations are changed, the Contestmaster must post the new Regulations to the Public Forum, and no such change is effective until it is so posted; and 6. how the Contest may be dissolved. A Player becomes a Contestant by notifying the Contestmaster and paying the prescribed Entry Fee to the Contest Fund. A Contestant may quit a Contest at any time by so notifying the Contestmaster, or by so posting to the Public Forum. A Contestmaster may resign at any time by posting a message to that effect to the Public Forum, at which time e ceases to be Contestmaster. A contest is dissolved when there is no Contestmaster and no provision for replacing em, or upon unanimous agreement of the Contestmaster and all Contestants, or as otherwise provided in the rules, or in the Regulations. When this happens the Contest Fund is distributed as provided in the Regulations; if no provision is made the Fund is divided equally between the Contestants. If the Contest Regulations require a transfer to be made, but the Contest Fund has insufficient currencies to permit that transfer to be made, sufficient currencies to cover the transfer shall be involuntarily transferred from the Contestmaster's Treasury to the Contest Fund. The Contestmaster shall report this transfer to the appropriate Recordkeepors. No Blots shall be assigned by this Rule. History: Created by Proposal 1509, Mar. 24 1995 Amended(1) by Proposal 1574, Apr. 28 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1601, Jun. 19 1995 ---------------------------------------- Rule 1011/0 (Semimutable, MI=2) Game Entities May Not Be Arbitrarily Changed Any Entity which is created by the Nomic Rules, and which exists only within the context of Agora Nomic (such as Points, Votes, Currencies and any Official Records) may *not* be changed by any action other than those specified by the Rules. No two Nomic Entities (including Players) shall have the same name or nickname. (*Was: 450*) History: Created by Proposal 450, Sep. 10 1993 Amended by Proposal 1011, Sep. 5 1994 Mutated from MI=1 to MI=2 by Proposal 1593, Jun. 2 1995 ---------------------------------------- Rule 1478/0 (Mutable, MI=1) Executors The Rules may, for any given non-Player Nomic Entity, specify a Player, or the means to designate a Player, who shall act as the Executor of that Entity. The Executor of a non-Player Nomic Entity shall have the legal authority to act on behalf of that Entity, as if e were that Entity. The Rules may also specify constraints on how the Executor of an Entity may act. If a non-Player Nomic Entity has no Executor, it may not act except as specifically required of it by the Rules. The Executor of a Group is that Group's Vizier. For the sake of completeness, a Player is eir own Executor. History: Created by Proposal 1601, Jun. 19 1995 ----------------------------------------