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  1. Newsgroups: sci.environment
  2. Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU!CSD-NewsHost!jmc
  3. From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
  4. Subject: Re: McCarthy's Requested Challange
  5. In-Reply-To: alanm@hpindda.cup.hp.com's message of Mon, 18 Jan 1993 17:46:39 GMT
  6. Message-ID: <JMC.93Jan21085310@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>
  7. Sender: news@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU
  8. Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
  9. Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
  10. References: <JMC.93Jan14221701@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> <149180272@hpindda.cup.hp.com>
  11. Date: 21 Jan 93 08:53:10
  12. Lines: 37
  13.  
  14. In article <149180272@hpindda.cup.hp.com> alanm@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Alan McGowen) writes:
  15.  
  16.    From: alanm@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Alan McGowen)
  17.    Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 17:46:39 GMT
  18.    Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
  19.    Path: CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU!stanford.edu!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpcss01!hpindda!alanm
  20.    Newsgroups: sci.environment
  21.    References: <JMC.93Jan14221701@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>
  22.    Lines: 15
  23.  
  24.    John McCarthy writes:
  25.  
  26.    >Numbers, please Alan.
  27.  
  28.    Sorry. *You* made the claim that you could prove that *any two resources* 
  29.    enjoyed by the developed world could be enjoyed by 5+ billion. You must have 
  30.    access to all the numbers you need, right? Else the claim was bogus.
  31.  
  32.    Do you now admit that there are factors of the developed world's standards
  33.    of living, which millions of people find highly important to their quality
  34.    of life, which cannot after all be extended using any known or foreseeable
  35.    technology? 
  36.  
  37.    ------------
  38.    Alan McGowen
  39.  
  40. Humanity had to find a substitute for whale oil.  It will also need a
  41. substitute for petroleum.  Fortunately, we know more today about how
  42. to substitute for petroleum than our ancestors knew about how to
  43. substitute for whale oil.  Further substitutions are required, but,
  44. as I recall, the examples given by McGowen were peripheral to the
  45. standard of living.
  46. --
  47. John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
  48. *
  49. He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
  50.  
  51.