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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 16 January 2009 - Volume 08<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Sandy Fleming</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:sandy@scotstext.org">sandy@scotstext.org</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Language programming" 2009.01.16
(06) [E]</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">> From:
Mark Dreyer <<a href="mailto:mrdreyer@lantic.net">mrdreyer@lantic.net</a>><br>
> Subject: LL-L "Language programming" 2009.01.12 (06) [E]<br>
></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">> It occurs to me we have been talking at cross purposes.
I have augered<br>
> in on language (the term) similar to that in Afrikaaans of for example<br>
> 'haatspraak' = hate-speech &c, Whereas you are more precisely focussed<br>
> on for example the term as expressed in 'Die Skotse Taal'
= The<br>
> Scottish Tongue. As far as focus applies, it seeems to me you have the<br>
> best of it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Yes, that's
right, since the discussion started with my objection to the<br>
idea that great mathematicians arose because of their native language<br>
(eg French). While I don't dispute that there have been a lot of great<br>
French mathematicians, you don't build a Laplace or Fourier out of<br>
having to count in twenties instead of tens. It's not because of their<br>
language that Einstein and Newton
made their respective discoveries,<br>
either.<br>
<br>
As for brains and computers, yes, they both process data but so does a<br>
card loom or a mechanical change-maker. A computer is much more like a<br>
very big (though minaturised), very fast mechanical change-maker than a<br>
human brain.<br>
<br>
Computers have always been publicised as thinking machines but the more<br>
you work with them the more you realise that whether they think or not,<br>
they don't do it the way the brain does. Artificial intelligence<br>
research hasn't gone the way we expected. Programs that seem human are<br>
nothing but a bag of tricks, image and voice recognition is very<br>
difficult for computers, while chess and computation is very easy for<br>
them, but difficult for us.<br>
<br>
An interesting contrast between the brain and computers is that the less<br>
data you have, the better computers are with it. But the human brain<br>
seems to work better with more data rather than less. For example, you<br>
may be visiting someone for the first time and they send you<br>
instructions with street names and their house number and some words<br>
like "right" and " second left". You follow these (probably
written down<br>
somewhere in the car because you tend to forget things that aren't<br>
data-rich) and get there. Three months later you visit her again but you<br>
don't have the instructions. You can't remember any street names or even<br>
what her house number was. Nevertheless you drive straight there because<br>
you recognise most things on the way. Recognising all these pictures<br>
involves a HUGE amount of data, and if you wanted to program a computer<br>
to do this, you'd probably do it with the street names rather than<br>
storing pictures of everything along the route. Even if you did it the<br>
"human" way in a computer it would be an illusion: the computer would<br>
have to be doing immense amounts of calculation - more than a human<br>
being could do in a million lifetimes - behind the scenes.<br>
<br>
This is why mnemonic systems generally involve turning words and numbers<br>
into pictures or other sensations in your head. It may be one reason why<br>
languages have so many words meaning approximately the same thing, and<br>
why orthographies are never quite the simple, logical systems you might<br>
expect to work best.<br>
<span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br>
Sandy Fleming<br>
<a href="http://scotstext.org/" target="_blank">http://scotstext.org/</a><br style="">
<br style="">
</span></span></p>