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Re: [ontolog-forum] Maxwell's Equations for Knowledge

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: KR-language <kr-language@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Richard S. Latimer" <rslatimer@xxxxxxx>
From: "Richard H. McCullough" <rhm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 10:35:18 -0700
Message-id: <COL129-W751D5CE21F2E41A5F0DD73AA550@xxxxxxx>
I like Ayn Rand's definition:
       Knowledge is the identification of a fact(s) of reality
       reached either by perceptual observation or a process
       of reason based on perceptual observation.

I consider my best work to be
        defining the context of a proposition
        designing the mKR language based on that definition
        designing and implementing the mKE program and mKB
               knowledge base which use the mKR language to
               communicate with a user
         identifying the Objectivist Context of Ayn Rand's
                Objectivist Epistemology
 
Dick McCullough
Context Knowledge Systems
mKE and the mKR language
mKR/mKE tutorial


Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 00:51:01 -0700
From: steven@xxxxxxx
To: rhm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Maxwell's Equations for Knowledge

I imagine then that a knowledge engineer is someone who engineers knowledge, and would in precise terms be able to state what it is that they work with and to give examples of its practical use. So, what is knowledge? And what are your examples?

Steven


On Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 1:26 PM, Richard H. McCullough <rhm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Steven

What you are to take from this is that nothing I have said
has anything to do with "political philosophy". 

I am solely concerned with the "epistemology philosophy"
of Ayn Rand.  I think the title I have chosen for myself,
Knowledge Engineer, is very apropos.

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2014 11:36:04 -0700
From: steven@xxxxxxx
To: rhm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: jeffery@xxxxxxxxxx; kr-language@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; rslatimer@xxxxxxx

Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Maxwell's Equations for Knowledge


And so, we are to take from this that (according to the political philosophy of Rand) you have been a corporate slave for your entire life, during which time you have been brainwashed into accepting the callous philosophy of Objectivism, it is your religion for you cannot look upon the world without consideration of it, and since your retirement you have built a little technology that appears to you to be both productive and useful, rather than merely self-satisf ying.

Or, is it perhaps, that we have learned something. You have been exploited your entire life by an elitist system of thought that does not adhere to its own premises, and you, like us all, need to be more open minded and work harder to understand the compassionate implications of the scientific method.

To this end, that of learning something in the single lifetime open to consideration, you might reassess your goals. 

Steven
 



On Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 6:11 AM, Richard H. McCullough <rhmccullough@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well said, John.

#2 and #3 are judgment calls, which only you can make for yourself.

I have some brief remarks re #1.< br>I agree that I have not proved my claims.
I have personally done a lot of testing.

I began to think about mKR in the 60s, after I first read Rand's
"Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology".  ITOE affected me
in the way that many people were affected by her fiction.
I had read a little philosophy, and considered it long, boring
and useless.  Rand was like a breath of fresh air.
She definitely did not  surpass Aristotle, but she wrote with
a clear, direct style that was [mostly] easy to understand,
and it inspired me.

After I retired, I began to work seriously on mKR.
Off and on, for 20 years, I have used mKR in my daily life.
I have used mKR to clarify my own thinking.
I have discussed it with friends who are Ayn Rand fans.
I have tested it by translating definitions and other passages
from ITOE.  I have tested it by translating logical expressions.
I have tested it by translating news articles.
I used mKR to implement genealogy programs to record
my family's history.  I improved the efficiency of mKE to
 accommodate the larger family as it grew to 100, then 1000.
 I truely believe the claims I have made about mKR.

I have been writing, and re-writing,  the "Objectivist Context"
for many years.= 0 Harry Binswanger's "How We Know" stimulated
me t o put the final touches on it.  I'm proud of it.


All this does not alter the fact that I have not proved my claims.
I accept that fact.
> Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2014 02:18:36 -0400
> From: sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx
> To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Maxwell's Equations for Knowledge

>
> Dick,
>
> There are three independent issues:
>
> 1. Your claims about the value of your notation for representing
> logic in a more readable form than predicate calculus.
>
> 2. The value of Ayn Rand's ontology.
>
> 3. The usefuln ess of applying #1 to clarify or develop #2.
>
> Re #1: As a teacher of logic, I'm sympathetic to efforts to make
> logic more readable and understandable. I've seen many failed
> attempts. So I'm skeptical about claims for any new notation.
> But I'm willing to give people a chance to demonstrate that their
> pet notations are useful. I suggested a way for you to do that.
>
> Re #2: I attended a lecture by Ayn Rand when I was an undergraduate
> at MIT. Like most people in the audience, I was underwhelmed. She
> was a professional novelist and screen writer. That's a respectable
> profession, which requires a considerable amount of talent.
>
> But as a philosopher, logician, and scientist, the best that can be
> said about her is that anybody who respects Aristotle can't be totally
> bad. But her achievements in logic, philosophy, and psychology are
> far below the level achieved by her master over two millennia ago.
>
> Re #3: I'm skeptical about #1, find nothing useful in #2, and
> consider the exercise of using an untested notation to represent
> useless axioms misguided -- to say the least.
>
> John
>
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