Re: Lisp history: IF, etc.

On Mon, 15 Apr 2024 18:01:46 -0600, Jeff Barnett wrote:

I also remember McCarthy in the late 1960s being obsessed with logic and
philosophy and randomly spouting off discussions such as how processing
of
    Sir Walter Raleigh was the author of "The Lie"
    Did the Queen know that Raleigh wrote "The Lie"?
 
might produce
 
    Did the Queen know TRUE?

The word “know” has its own connotations which might be confusing things,
though. What if it were

    Did the Queen believe that Raleigh wrote "The Lie"?

might produce

    Did the Queen believe TRUE?

If you think that’s a meaningless statement, then how about

    An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
    Do anti-vaxxers believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound
        of cure?

and you realize that, trying to substitute “conspiracy theorists” for X
in

    Do X believe TRUE?

is a process fraught with pitfalls. ;)