ADMIN: Posting Rules - PLEASE READ

It appears that things have got a bit out of hand on the List. From now on,
please adhere to the posting guidelines below. NO further meta discussion
or cross-posting, please, and if you feel the urge to post more than a
paragraph or two of quoting, try to restrain yourself. Excessive quoting
makes it difficult for those new to the List to follow the discussion.
Discussions should be short and sweet. Let's avoid personal attacks please,
and ensure that your posts are on-topic. Thanks everyone.

Welcome to The Fabric of Reality List!

PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE BEFORE YOU POST TO THE LIST.

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*.

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?

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Posting to The Fabric of Reality List

What sort of posts are welcome on this List?

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.

How to send messages to the whole List

If you wish to ask a question or otherwise contribute to the list,
send your message to Fabric-of-Reality-hHKSG33TihhUou4Mz/[email protected]

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The Fabric of Reality List Posting Guidelines

The List is moderated. However, not all messages are treated by
hand, so the appearance of a message on the List does not imply the
approval of the moderator(s).

Do not assume that the moderators will pick up your mistakes in
posting! There are times when there is effectively no moderation at
all, so please ensure that your posts meet the following criteria,
in addition to the main criterion given above:

Content

   o We are trying to retain a friendly atmosphere on this
     List, and it is intended to be accessible to lay people,
     so please bear that in mind when posting. Take the trouble
     to put your points in non-technical form please.

   o Please do not send off-topic messages to the List.

   o No meta discussion:
	 - NOTE: "No meta discussion" is NOT a ban on any
	   discussion of metaphysical ideas. If you read about the sorts
       of questions this List addresses in the introduction above,
	   you will see that many of them *are* philosophical questions.
	   "META DISCUSSION" means discussion *about the discussions* --
          o about posting styles
          o about what should be considered on-topic for this List
          o about the attributes of a particular poster
          o about the attributes of a particular discussion on the
            List
	        ... and the like...
     -- instead of about *on-topic* matters.

   o If a post makes you angry, please address the arguments and
     issues rather than resorting to irrelevant personal attacks.

   o No crossposting.

   o Please do not send spams, chain letters, virus warnings,
     etc., to the List. If someone sends you a "warning" or a
     "special offer" you are not sure about, check the urban
     legends newsgroups/FAQs rather than posting to this List.

   o Please do not send "fluff" posts to the List.

   o Please do not send one-line, "content-less" posts such as "I
     agree" to the List.

   o Please do not send administrative messages such as
     "Unsubscribe me" to the List.

Privacy

   o Please do not invade other people's privacy, either by
     referring to private email, or otherwise.

   o Please understand that the List is currently set to be
     readable to everyone. To avoid embarrassment, assume that
     anything you post will end up on the front page of the New
     York Times (or elsewhere).

Replies

   o Sending personal messages to the List can be very
     embarrassing, so check the To: line before sending any
     reply. Is it a personal message or do you intend it to go to
     the whole List? Might it be more appropriate to send your
     message to the poster whose message you are answering?

   o Please send re-post requests to the individual poster, not
     the whole List.

   o In general, threads (including discussions on the same
     subject with a different Subject: line) should be short.
     They should not be repetitive and they should not go round
     in circles. Insistently repetitive threads drown out other
     more subtle threads so please try to ensure that your reply
     is making a point which others would recognise as new to the
     thread rather than merely repeating a point which has just
     been made. If a thread is getting nowhere, instead of
     replying line-by-line to another post, write a
     self-contained post which does not refer to previous posts
     in the thread, and give it an appropriate Subject: line.

   o Ensure that the subject of your messages is reflected in the
     Subject: line of your posts. Change the Subject: line if
     necessary.

   o Please do not quote more than is necessary for context.
     (Insufficient quoting can be a problem too!)

   o If possible, include the full reference to the post to which
     you are replying (for example: "On [date] at [time], [name
     and email address] wrote:").

Format

   o Please check that the width of your posts does not exceed
     that of this message. (If you think in characters, it is
     about 70 characters wide.) Some people do not have wide
     screens.

   o Large signatures annoy people unless they are interesting,
     germane and changed regularly (the sigs, that is).

   o To make posts easier to read, add white space. If you write
     more than about four lines without a gap, consider breaking
     the text into two or more paragraphs. It'll encourage
     subscribers to read what you have written.

-- 

Sarah Fitz-Claridge
Founder, Taking Children Seriously:
http://www.takingchildrenseriously.com/