====================================================================== CFJ 917 "For the purposes of Rule 114, if it is not legally possible for any Proposals to be distributed and voted on, then it is not possible to make arbitrary modifications to the Ruleset." ====================================================================== Judge: elJefe Judgement: FALSE Eligible: +Andre, Antimatter, Blob, Chuck, Crito, elJefe, favor, General Chaos, (Harlequin), KoJen, Michael, Morendil, Murphy, +Oerjan, Swann, (Vanyel), Zefram Not eligible: Caller: Steve Barred: - Disqualified: Vanyel On hold: Harlequin ====================================================================== History: Called by Steve, Wed, 2 Apr 1997 16:49:46 +1000 (EST) Assigned to Vanyel, Thu, 3 Apr 1997 09:12:47 +0100 Vanyel defaults Assigned to elJefe, Mon, 14 Apr 1997 11:56:29 +0100 Judged FALSE, Fri, 18 Apr 1997 16:45:43 +0000 Published, Mon, 21 Apr 1997 10:13:53 +0100 ====================================================================== Judgement: FALSE Reasons and arguments: Let us consider the statement as meaning something like "given the current Ruleset but without Proposals, it would not then be possible to make arbitrary modifications in the sense of Rule 114". I choose this because it is a possible interpretation of the Statement (as a counterfactual), it is one apparently intended by the Caller, and the alternative (interpreting it as a statement of a general principle) is trivially false. Good counterfactual construction requires the "current ruleset but without Proposals" to be a ruleset as close as possible to the current one (as of 2 April 1997, date of the CFJ), but with something preventing Proposals from being distributed and voted upon. [[ E.g. perhaps the EV stipend is not operating for some reason, and all EV's are in the Bank. :-) Or "possibly" some *scam* could bind all players, present and future, to an SLC that stops them from submitting Proposals. This would require no change at all to the Ruleset itself. I will give no further details yet. }:-D ]] In keeping with this principle, we will regard the Proposal Rules as inoperative for some reason, but still present in the Ruleset and so with their text available, e.g. to the Frankenstein Monster. In that case, it would be possible (after some time) for the Mad Scientist to insert the following text into the Frankenstein Rule: ----------------------------------------------------------------- A Frankenstein Monster is created whenever a Proposing Entity delivers some collection of text to the Promotor with the clear indication that that text is intended to become a Frankenstein Monster. A Referendum shall then be conducted in usual manner, with the following exceptions : * Frankenstein Monster Collector: The Frankenstein Monster Collector is the Liaison. A Frankenstein Monster shall be adopted if and only if it receives the required number of votes and if Quorum is achieved. When a Frankenstein Monster is adopted, its Power becomes equal to its Adoption Index, and the provisions contained in the text of the Frankenstein Monster are implemented to the maximal extent permitted by the Rules. The Adoption Index of a Frankenstein Monster is the maximum of 1, the value requested by its Proposer (if any), and the value required for that Frankenstein Monster by the Rules (if any). ----------------------------------------------------------------- This is a little loose, but certainly something close to this will work. And even in this form I believe that there is only one way to make sense of it: that properly identified text delivered to the Promotor is then voted on in a Referendum, which if successful gives effect to the provisions contained therein. This would essentially put Proposals back in business (with a new name). Thus I judge the statement FALSE. NOTE 1: This would not be a quick remedy. The expected time for the Frankenstein Mutator to select Rules 1483, 1632, 106, 594, and 594 would be about 12 years. But we are familiar with the argument that extending the Voting Period to 104 years would not violate the old form of Rule 114. NOTE 2: I reject the idea that this does not count as a "combination of player actions" because its termination time is indefinite. The point is that it is certain to terminate eventually. The whole field of probabilistic number theory relies on such procedures, and they are implemented in various cryptographic protocols. NOTE 3: In the above, the adoption index of a FM can even be 1 initially and the scheme could still be made to work, a la the clever scam discovered by Morendil. ====================================================================== Evidence: Rule 114/1 (Power=3) Rules Can Always Be Changed It must always be possible to make arbitrary modifications to the ruleset by some combination of player actions. Any change to the gamestate that would cause this condition to become false does not occur, any rule to the contrary notwithstanding. ====================================================================== (Caller's) Arguments: At present, most discussion of the effect of Rule 114 needs to be prefaced with clarificatory remarks concerning precisely what it means to be able to make 'arbitrary modifications to the Ruleset by some combination of Player actions'. There seems to me to have developed a consensus around the notion that at the very least, if it is not legally possible to have Proposals distributed and voted on, then we should regard the Ruleset as not arbitrarily modifiable. I seek to have this clarification incorporated into Rule 114 by Annotation. Relevant Rules: 114 Requested Injunction: I request that the Judge issue an Injunction to the Rulekeepor to Annotate Rule 114 with the Statement, as e is permitted to do by Rule 789. ======================================================================