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Re: [ontolog-forum] Car attitudes

To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Kathryn Blackmond Laskey <klaskey@xxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:59:23 -0400
Message-id: <p0611043cc2d8d4821d22@[129.174.89.24]>
Some years ago, we owned a white Plymouth Voyager minivan.  It had an attitude!    (01)

There was something funny with the electrical system of that car. 
Every once in a while, the wipers would decide for no apparent reason 
to do a couple of swipes.  The kids would say:  "It's waving at us!" 
Sometimes its door-open sensors would trip, even though all the doors 
were shut tight.  This would trigger the lights to flash on and off 
in warning, a bell tone to sound, and the already-locked doors to 
lock themselves again with a loud click.    (02)

As the car got older and more crotchety, these things would happen 
more and more often.  Occasionally, a drive down the highway would be 
punctuated with a near-constant sequence of wiper-waves, 
light-flashes, bell-tones, and lock-clicks.  We used to wonder what 
we had done to offend the vehicle.  We decided maybe we should stop 
talking in its presence about how worn-out it was getting and whether 
it was time to get a new car.    (03)

We managed to nurse that car to 100,000 miles. It did long service to 
our family.  The older two children learned to drive on it, and it 
became their car.  When it reached 999,995 miles, we took it out for 
a spin.  The whole family drove to the nearby Target, and took a 
couple of swings around the parking lot with everyone looking over my 
husband's shoulder to watch the odometer click over to 100,000. Then 
we drove it home, parked it on the street, and called the Salvation 
Army to come and get it.    (04)

Kathy    (05)

At 8:20 AM -0400 8/3/07, John F. Sowa wrote:
>Gary,
>
>  > I could a surface analysis of this and come up with a possible
>  > set of car attitudes.  But based on others things that I think
>  > I know I'm probably not on safe grounds making these "attitudes"
>  > a set reflecting what's in the physical universe.
>
>When you're talking with a philosopher or a knowledge engineer,
>you are not on safe grounds with any assumption.
>
>For evidence, look at the archive of this forum.
>
>John
>
>
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