The purpose of this List is to consider the issues raised in the work of David Deutsch, and related matters – from the point of view of reason and existing scientific knowledge. (The name is taken from David Deutsch's eponymous book.)
How much can our deepest theories of the world – including quantum physics and the theories of evolution, computation and knowledge – explain? Do they point the way to “a unified theory of everything that is known,” as David Deutsch argues? Is quantum theory literally true, as the many worlds view (and most thinking in the field of quantum cosmology and of quantum computation) assumes? Is the human race “...just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting round a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies,” as Stephen Hawking asserts? What are the implications of quantum theory for the understanding of the significance of knowledge? Is certainty possible in mathematics? Where does free will and consciousness fit in the picture painted by science? What is the scope of virtual reality and of computation in general, including quantum computation? What are the implications of the nature of the fabric of reality for everyday life?
Discussions of speculative science are acceptable on this List, but pseudoscience, fringe science and anti-science are not. Posts of this nature will be rejected. If you try to breach this rule often, you may be unsubscribed. Posts promoting any religion, or the paranormal, telepathy, dowsing, ESP, fortune-telling, crystal balls, psychic phenomena, UFOs, alien abduction, faith healing, weeping statues, mysticism, spiritualism, witches, witch-doctors, magic, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, auras, crop circles, and the like, are inappropriate and will not be tolerated on this List.
Deutsch has expressed a willingness occasionally to contribute to the List and to answer subscribers' questions.
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To stop Netscape Messenger from sending a duplicate message in HTML coding at the end of your normal message, go into Edit, choose Preferences, then choose Mail and Newsgroups. Click on the +, then from the resulting List choose Formatting. You'll see two possibilities near the top: “use HTML editor to compose messages” or “use plain text editor to compose messages.” Be sure to choose the plain text editor. You might also check the second option below that: “convert the message into plain text.”
Also, go into Identity (also under Mail and Newsgroups) and be sure that the bottom option ("Attach my personal card to messages as a vCard") is unselected.
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You look under Tools, Options, Send, Mail Sending Format: check the box that says “Plain Text” (instead of “html”).
To stop Microsoft Exchange from appending a WINMAIL.DAT binary attachment, go to the Microsoft site and consult the Knowledge Base article entitled “Preventing WINMAIL.DAT Sent to Internet Users.”
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Last modified February 10, 2003 by Sarah Fitz-Claridge.
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