Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and Die Hard Actor, Dies Aged 69

Re:Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and Die Hard Actor, Dies Aged 69 by coldtea on Friday January 15, 2016 @02:22PM (#10911458)

All true equivalency statements are tautologies -- since both sides "resolve" to the same thing. That doesn't mean they are useless.

In this case, though, it's not "Everyone who has died has died", but "To have lived means you're dead".

The same way that "to be a corpse means that you've died". That's not a tautology (it's not "to be a corpse means you're a corpse"), just informs us of a prerequisite for the other thing to happen.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and Die Hard Actor, Dies Aged 69 by logfromblammo on Friday January 15, 2016 @04:16PM (#10912200)

I think that you lack consensus on the meaning that can be drawn from use of the past tense.

Either way, the statement as given does not support the unstated implication that everyone now living will eventually die.

[ Parent | on HN ]