> > A province is a registered protectorate. > > Be careful about the word "registered". We've seen a recent case claiming > that it can only refer to playerhood.
That was in fact what I meant. If a registered partnership's backing document allows self-amendment, it qualifies as a nomic and is thus able to fulfill the R2147 requirements for the ambassador to make it a protectorate with Agoran Consent. A registered protectorate has very much the relationship of a province to Agora: submission to the national government, but a voice in that government as well. I thought of something else, though. > A nomic is an entity defined by a set of explicit rules that > provide means for themselves to be altered arbitrarily, including > changes to those rules which govern rule changes. Does this definition require *each rule* to provide for self-amendment, or (as intended) only the set as a whole? And can it be rewritten to remove the ambiguity? > A nomic is an entity defined by a set (its ruleset) of explicit rules > such that the ruleset provides means for itself to be altered > arbitrarily, including changes to those rules that govern rule changes. Clunky and therefore prone to deliberate misinterpretation (hi comex). Maybe: > A nomic ruleset is a set of explicit rules that provides means for > itself to be altered arbitrarily, including changes to (or repeals of) > those rules that govern rule changes. > > A nomic is an entity defined by a nomic ruleset. That should do it. I hope. Er, no, wait -- Suber's immutables. Distinguish theoretically unchangeable rules from momentarily immutable but downmutable rules. > A nomic ruleset is a set of explicit rules that provides some means for > itself to be altered arbitrarily in finite time, including changes to > (or repeals of) those rules that govern rule changes. These means may > require an arbitrarily complex combination of actions, but if any > change is theoretically impossible by any combination of actions, then > the set is disqualified from being a nomic ruleset. > > A nomic is an entity defined by a nomic ruleset. ... And now it's unreadable again.
