two mathematicians enter a classroom earlier. in the room they found a sentence on the blackboard that someone else has left behind saying: only an idiot would believe a sentence like this. asks the first mathematician the other: do you believe it? of course not. it already says: only an idiot would believe a sentence like this.

not literally but memorized quote from dana scott, who was telling the story as a comment to the panel on unknowability. he was actually quoting someone else who told him this, but i didn't get his/her name right. guess, that's how oral history sometimes works ...

update: thanks to refs i know now whom dana quoted: ray smullyan, he says.

btw. scott reminds me of richard gabriel. i don't know, is it age, when you start to realize more often similarities in gesture, mimic, body language, tiny details? at least i am not the only one. ;)

the medieval historian denys turner talked partly about language and music as language. didn't remember that nietzsche was composing and writing about music ...

if i would have dinner tonight with that crowd i would ask them one question: can you proof that futurism sucks? (no, i haven't forgotten mr. tiny ...)