Tim, thanks for this gem. It should be required reading for everyone
working in ontologies or semantics. While it is packed with quotable
bits, this chunk is especially pertinent. (Hint: substitute "ontology
designer" for "language speaker"). (01)
"Language is only occasionally a medium of communication of information;
even when it is, the ratio of information to packaging is low. The
problem of a language speaker is to get the directed attention of an
unprepared hearer and slide some information into his mind in a very
short time. Since the major time sink is moving his mouth, the language
sacrifices everything else to brevity, forcing the hearer to do much
quick thinking to compensate. Furthermore, since the speaker doesn't
quite know the organization of his hearer's mind, his phrasing of
information and packaging must, except for the most stereotyped
conversations, be an artwork of suggestiveness and insight.
"Communication between computer programs is under completely different
constraints...." (02)
Regards,
--Paul (03)
On Thu, 2014-01-23 at 16:50 -0500, Tim Finin wrote:
> The discussion of the symbols we use for namespaces reminds me of this
> classic from nearly 40 years ago.
>
> McDermott, Drew. "Artificial intelligence meets natural stupidity." ACM
> SIGART Bulletin 57 (1976): 4-9.
>
>http://homepage.univie.ac.at/nicole.rossmanith/concepts/papers/mcdermott1976artificial.pdf
>
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