Friday, August 17, 2012

The Unmoved Mover - QBASIC Style!

Run a simple QBASIC program. The output is "42."

Look at the last line of the program:

PRINT A

So clearly, the A variable has a value of 42. The next line up is:

LET A = B

So it's getting that value from the variable B. The next line is:

LET B = C

And so on. Eventually, the letters cycle around again and double:

LET Z = AA
LET AA = BB

And so on and so on.

Questions:
  1. Is there a line of code somewhere in the program that assigns the number 42 to one of the variables?
  2. Can Occam's Razor be used to conclude that there is probably no such line of code?
  3. Does it make sense to ask what line of code assigns the value 42 to the number 42?
All questions refer to within the lines of code, not the programmer (otherwise you leap out of the thought exercise and into the argument proper).

Answering these questions will go a long way in understanding how the unmoved mover of Aristotle (which is also the First Way of Aquinas) is supposed to work, and will help in avoiding bad objections to it.

Answers:
  1. Yes.
  2. No.
  3. No.