Holy Cyclops

Here, I argued that whether or not to accept the fatalistic argument really boiled down to a choice to how to view future events—as already fixed or not as already fixed. Propositions about future events might be taken as already having truth-values, or they might be taken as taking on truth-values only at the time of occurrence of those future events.

But if we assume the existence of a foreknowing God, that changes. Propositions about future events must then be taken as already having truth-values, which God already knows (although we don’t). The fatalistic argument I gave there, then, must go through:

1. p v ~p (Premiss, by the Law of the Excluded Middle)
2. p—>O(E) (Premiss: If it is true that E occurs at time t, then E has an occurrence-value)
3. ~p—>O(E) (Premiss: If it is true that E fails to occur at time t, then E has an occurrence-value)
4. O(E) (1, 2 ,3, Constructive Dilemma)

This applies to any future event E of which a foreknowing God has knowledge, whether it’s the result of human choice or not. And although one may still argue that God’s foreknowledge is like his looking through a time-telescope, so that he is not bringing about event E (or not-E) but is simply observing it or aware of it, one can no longer argue that event E’s occurrence-value isn’t yet fixed.  One can no longer argue that future contingent propositions are neither true nor false.

June was a really bad month for me, chesswise.  I lost to two players rated in the 1400s; at the quads, I offered a draw in an elementarily won position and, in a winning position, I hallucinated an undefended piece, which I proceeded to start to capture with my queen before realizing my mistake and resigning; I went 1/2-2 1/2 at the quads and was 0-3 in the club’s Morphy Swiss before, finally, winning last week.  And this week—another win. 

Oddly, both wins have come out of the opening.  Last week’s game, Johnson-Jin, began 1 e4 c6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Nf3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bg4 (4…Bf5, as in the Classical Variation, gives White a big advantage after 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 h4 h6 7 Ne5 Bh7 8 Qh5 g6 9 Bc4 e6 10 Qe2) 5 Bc4 Nf6? (5…e6 was necessary) 6 Ne5!  My opponent then thought for half an hour before the game continued 6…Qd4 7 Bxf7+ Kd8 8 Nxg4 Qxe4+ 9 Ne3 (Black has limited her losses to a pawn and the loss of her castling privilege) Nbd7 10 d3 Qd4 11 Bd2 (I don’t have Fritz; one might want to analyze the variations following 11…Qxb2 12 Rb1 and 13 Rxb7 Nb6, with the threat of …Kc8, trapping the White rook; at the time, I trusted that she wouldn’t take on b2) Ne5 12 Bc3 Qf4 13 Be6 Kc7 14 Qe2 (threatening Nd5+ and Bxe5+, winning the Black queen) Ng6 (now both king bishop and king rook are locked out of play) 15 g3 Qd6 16 Nc4 Qc5 17 O-O-O Nd7 (I expected 17…Nd5, allowing 18 Be5+ Kd8 [18…Nxe5 19 Qxe5+ Kd8 20 Ne3 wins a pawn for White]) 18 f4 Rd8 19 f5 Black resigns.

This week’s game, Park-Johnson, also featured an early win of material:  1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nf3 g6 4 Nc3 Bg7 5 e4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 Nc6 7 Bf4 d6 8 h3? Nxd4 9 Qxd4 e5, forking bishop and queen.  Play continued 10 Bxe5 dxe5 11 Qxd8+ (I expected 11 Qxe5+) Kxd8 12 Rd1+ Ke7 13 c5 Be6 14 b3 Rhd8 15 Ra1 Rac8 16 b4 Rd4 17 a3 a6 18 f3 Bh6 19 Kf2 Rd2+ 20 Be2 Rc2 21 Na4 Rd8 22 Rad1 Rxd1 23 Rxd1 Bc4 24 Nb6? Rxe2+ 25 Kg1 Be3+ 26 Kh1 Bb5 27 Nc8+ Kf8 28 Na7 Ba4 29 Rb1 Bc2 30 Ra1 Nxe4 31 fxe4 Bxe4 32 Rg1 Bxg1 33 Kxg1 Rxg2+ 34 Kf1 Ra2 White resigns

I can’t help being pleased with my opening play in these two games—in particular, with my noticing the wins of material.  We’ll see how I do at the quads next weekend—not this weekend, as the club doesn’t want to compete with the World Open and therefore delays its July quads to the second Saturday of the month.  I managed to drop seventy-one rating points, from 1838 to 1767, in the course of seven games (including the first of the two wins).  We’ll see how quickly I can get back to 1800—and we’ll also see if I’m ever able to reach 1900!

On the walk home from chess club is a stretch of road next to which is a marsh. Red-winged blackbirds like marshes, and I often see them when I walk to the club. Occasionally, I see a deer near there, too; tonight, on my way home from chess club, I did, in fact, see a deer. But that wasn’t what caught my eye tonight. Instead, what I noticed were this summer’s lightning bugs. Fireflies were out tonight in great number, flashing rhythmically, outdoing the early fireworks people were setting off for Independence Day. Flashing on and off, they reminded me of myriad miniature pulsars—a phrase I’m sure I’ll use in a poem sometime.