Kathryn --
You wrote..
I intended [the example] as an illustration that logic can be used to
reason about the real world, and when logic is used to reason about
the real world, there can be life-and-death consequences to getting
the logic right.
Of course this kind of error is not limited to logic-based
systems. An expensive European satellite launch once went
completely off course and had to be destroyed, because a conventional
program was calculating partly in non-metric instead of metric units.
However, there is a way to build a safety feature into logic -- a
feature that would be near impossible to achieve in C or Java.
The idea is to provide a two-way mapping between logic and English (or
another Natural language), and then to map the proof of a logical
result into a step-by-step explanation in
English. This exposes the way the knowledge is used to get a
result, so that people can check it at the real world level. In
Java or C programs, on the other hand, the human level knowledge is
usually in comments that the machine does not use, or even in separate
English documents.
There's a system online at the site below , with examples written as
English rules. You can view, run and change the examples, and get
explanations of the results, using a browser. You are welcome to
write and run your own examples too.
Apologies if you have seen this before, and thanks for comments.
-- Adrian
Internet Business Logic
A Wiki for Executable Open Vocabulary English
Online at www.reengineeringllc.com Shared use is free
Adrian Walker
Reengineering
On 8/11/07, Kathryn Blackmond Laskey <klaskey@xxxxxxx> wrote:
The error in dosage happened to my college boyfriend's mother's
boyfriend's father. (Got that?) It happened at least 30 years ago.
I never met the fellow, but the story was a favorite topic of
conversation in my boyfriend's family. My recollection was that it
was an error in logic. I won't swear by the details, both because I
got them secondhand and because I've not had any contact with the
boyfriend or his family for a couple of decades.
But does it really matter what the details are of this particular
story? I intended it as an illustration that logic can be used to
reason about the real world, and when logic is used to reason about
the real world, there can be life-and-death consequences to getting
the logic right. My point would have been just as valid if I had
said, "Suppose a physician makes an error in logic when calculating
the dosage of medication. Someone could die as a result."
K
At 9:35 PM -0700 8/10/07, clynch wrote:
>I assume that you knew of the details of the case personally since, from
>your description, I could not assume that there was an error in logic. It
>could have been a visual problem with the physician writing the script, a
>pharmacist reading it, or even a message error if it were an NCPDP HL7
>message with an erroneous Units of Measure entry.
>
>Thanks
>Cecil
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kathryn Blackmond Laskey [mailto:klaskey@xxxxxxx
]
>Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 3:19 PM
>To: clynch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; [ontolog-forum] ; 'Azamat'
>Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Reality Oriented Logic
>
>Miscalculating the location of the decimal point.
>
>At 2:32 PM -0700 8/10/07, clynch wrote:
>>Hi Kathy,
>>
>>What specifically was the "error in logic"?
>>
>>Cecil Lynch
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>[mailto:
ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kathryn
>>Blackmond Laskey
>>Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 1:00 PM
>>To: [ontolog-forum] ; Azamat
>>Cc: [ontolog-forum]
>>Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Reality Oriented Logic
>>
>>>...Ontology deals with the matter and content, with the real components of
>>> >discourse about anything, while Logic is an art, an instrument of
>>>>intellectual reasoning, at least a formal science
>>>
>>>Even let us agree (temporarily) to this ...
>>>
>>>>,and it has nothing to do
>>>>with reality, real significance or real meanings,
>>>
>>> ... but this is a mistake, a non-sequiteur.
>>
>>I once knew someone who was disabled for life because a medical
>>professional missed a decimal point and gave him an order of
>>magnitude higher dose of a drug than he should have had. The medical
>>professional's career was ruined. The insurance company was out more
>>than a million dollars. The patient's life was radically transformed
>>for the worse.
>>
>>All due to an error in logic.
>>
>>This had *very much* to do with reality It had very real
>>significance, and very real meaning.
>>
>>Kathy
>>
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