Re: [External] : Re: Indentation with spaces

[tomas]

On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 07:16:26AM +0200, Emanuel Berg wrote:
> Drew Adams wrote:
> 
> >>> Why is `indent-tabs-mode' t by default? Tabs should not
> >>> be used.
> >> 
> >> The world is split between 3 factions:
> >> - those users who absolutely cannot tolerate TABs.
> >> - those users who absolutely cannot tolerate the use of SPC instead of
> >>   TAB to indent.
> >> - those users who have a life.
> >
> > Hooray! If the closed-world hypothesis applies then I can
> > now say I have a life!
> 
> I don't get it joke but 
> 
>   The Closed World Assumption (CWA) is the assumption that
>   what is not known to be true must be false [...]

This comes from the first serious steps in AI, where "expert
systems" were built Prolog-style: you have a database of "facts"
(basically simple clauses) and inference rules; you ask a
question and the system tries to prove or disprove it. Under
the closed-world assumption (IMO a better name than "hypothesis")
the system can try to prove its contrary, i.e. to pull off
a proof by contradiction. Otherwise, "I don't know" becomes
a possible answer. Just another way to state that you assume
that your facts database is complete. I think the Wikipedia [1]
article explains it pretty well.

Cheers

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-world_assumption
-- 
t

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