On 5/31/2011 11:26 PM, Alex Shkotin wrote:
> I don't like Computer Science term at all ;-)
> But a term to survive and spread the minds should be attractive. (01)
The point I was making is that the "wisdom of the crowds" is usually
better than the opinions of most so-called "experts". (02)
In the 1950s, two common terms were 'machine intelligence' (MI)
and 'artificial intelligence' (AI). When I first heard of AI, I
thought it was flaky, and I don't blame anybody for criticizing it. (03)
But over time, 'AI' was widely accepted, and no other term was more
descriptive. Since 'AI' has become the commonly accepted term, it
would be misleading and counterproductive to invent a new one. (04)
Re computer science: Dijkstra made the observation that a more
descriptive term would be 'computing science'. In a technical
sense, that's true. (05)
But in English, a Noun-Noun phrase simply means that Noun1 has
some relationship to Noun2 that modifies or restricts its meaning.
For that reason, 'computer science' is acceptable. In fact, it
is widely accepted. There is no reason to change it. (06)
The Europeans coined the word 'informatics', but one could object
that it mixes Latin and Greek roots. The word 'cybernetics' uses
purely Greek roots, but it never became popular. (07)
Recommendation: Poorly chosen terms naturally fall out of use,
and the consensus of common usage should be respected. (08)
John (09)
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