DAVIS@EMBL.BITNET.UUCP (05/21/87)
I'd like to briefly say that perhaps an even more astounding problem than that proposed by Stevan Harnad is that connected with the means by which literate, intelligent and interested persons can totally obscure the central core of an idea by the use of unnecessarily obtuse jargon. If we're going to discuss the more philosphical end of AI (*yes please!*), then we don't *have* to throw everyone else off the track by bogging down the chat in a maze of terms intended to have *such* a precise meaning as to prevent anyone but the author from truly grasping the intended meaning. Hofstadter's mention of the journal "Art - Language" in metamagical themas should be than just humourous - it should have warned us all about the dangers of ridiculously narrow terminology. thankyou, and goodnight (yaaaawn!) paul davis netmail: davis@embl.bitnet "and when calculating the promise, remember this - the real of the matter - `to shatter tradition makes us *feel* free, but tradition, is a static defence against a chaotic community, and what do we gain by destroying it'?"
laura@hoptoad.UUCP.UUCP (06/02/87)
In article <8705280722.AA09419@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> DAVIS@EMBL.BITNET writes: > >I'd like to briefly say that perhaps an even more astounding problem >than that proposed by Stevan Harnad is that connected with the means by >which literate, intelligent and interested persons can totally obscure >the central core of an idea by the use of unnecessarily obtuse jargon. > >If we're going to discuss the more philosphical end of AI (*yes please!*), >then we don't *have* to throw everyone else off the track by bogging >down the chat in a maze of terms intended to have *such* a precise meaning >as to prevent anyone but the author from truly grasping the intended meaning. Precision is a good thing. If one can say precisely what one means then one will not be misunderstood. This, alas, is a pipe dream. There is no way to say precisely what one means -- what one says does not have precise meaning embedded in the words or the relationships between the words. Rather, one shares a linguistic context with one's audience. This means that the serach for precision is never ending. Right now there are a good number of people who want to talk about ``psychic energy'' and ``interpersonal energy'' and the like. Reguardless of what these people mean by these terms, it is clear that they do not mean m c-squared. The search for precision continues. -- (C) Copyright 1987 Laura Creighton - you may redistribute only if your recipients may. ``One must pay dearly for immortality: one has to die several times while alive.'' -- Nietzsche Laura Creighton ihnp4!hoptoad!laura utzoo!hoptoad!laura sun!hoptoad!laura