In the technical sense, a discourse or text is any string of language, usually one that is more than TEXT one sentence long. Novels, weather reports, textbooks, conversations, and almost all nontrivial uses of language are discourses. So far we have largely ignored the problems of discourse, preferring to dissect language into individual sentences that can be studied in vitro. We also study sentences in their native habitat.To produce discourse, a speaker must go through the standard steps of intention, generation, and synthesis. Discourse understanding includes perception, analysis (and thus syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic interpretation), disambiguation, and incorporation. The hearer's state of knowledge plays a crucial part in arriving at an understanding—two agents with different knowledge may well understand the same text differently. The difference between what someone says and what might be understood is the hearer's understanding of the text. At least six types of knowledge come into play in arriving at an understanding: 1. General knowledge about the world. 2. General knowledge about the structure of coherent discourse. 3. General knowledge about syntax and semantics. 4. Specific knowledge about the situation being discussed. 5. Specific knowledge about the beliefs of the characters. 6. Specific knowledge about the beliefs of the speaker.
Machines can learn, if I say 'Gabby has big boots', that I may not be referring to foot size. On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 4:34:55 PM UTC, archytas wrote: > > Translation is difficult because, in the general case, it requires > in-depth understanding of the text, and that requires in-depth > understanding of the situation that is being communicated.This is true even > for very simple texts—even "texts" of one word. Consider the word "Open" on > the door of a store.' It communicates the idea that the store is accepting > customers at the moment. Now consider the same word "Open" on a large > banner outside a newly constructed store. It means that the store is now in > daily operation, but readers of this sign would not feel misled if the > store closed at night without removing the banner. The two signs use the > identical word to convey different meanings. In some other languages, the > same word or phrase would be used in both cases, but in German, the sign on > the door would be "Offen" while the banner would read "Neu Eroffnet." The > problem is that different languages categorize the world differently. A > majority of the situations that are covered by the English word "open" are > also covered by the German word "offen," but the boundaries of the category > differ across languages. In English, we extend the basic meaning of "open" > to cover open markets, open questions, and open job offerings. In German, > the extensions are different. Job offerings are "freie," not open, but the > concepts of loose ice, private firms, and blank checks all use a form of > "offen."To do translation well, a translator (human or machine) must read > the original text,* understand the situation to which it is referring,* > and find a corresponding text in the target language that does a good job > of describing the same or a similar situation. Often this involves a > choice. For example, the English word "you" can be translated into French > as either the formal "vous" or the informal "tu." There is just no way that > one can refer to the concept of "you" in French without also making a > choice of formal or informal. Translators (both machine and human) > sometimes find it difficult to make this choice > > Gabby will know better than me. Rather than produce 'Crystal Text', we > have built in more tolerance into our machines. Political correctness and > manners provide a dis-junction between intentionality (what one might want > to say) and what can be said. I am not sure how we cope with this in AI - > though there is work on this as context. > > On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 3:58:47 PM UTC, archytas wrote: > > Also genius Gabby. If only we had realised we were working on ALlan's > Intelligence all along! This explains why our machines throw darts at > German ladies and the high level of our coffee budget, Lovely spot. We > once had a typewriter with a broken 'l' key and used the capital 'i' > instead. Did you know an Englishman beat the German held joke telling > record (21) with 26 in a minute? I would laugh if you had a sense of > humour, rather than cunning plan to get the record back ... and I may > contact the United Nations to get dots put on capital 'i's. > > There was, of course, knowledge before humans, a point elaborated by John > Searle. Socially constructed knowledge is still generally claimed by > social constructivist authors. > > On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 2:59:39 PM UTC, Gabby wrote: > > I have defined Allan (Al, if you prefer the short form) as the intelligent > agent who wants to see his idea of Soul sort of fleshed out. Why not? > Building a project glossary is not so unusual. Allan seems to be most > interested so might as well let him start a test ballon in which he tries > to identify his idea of soul in what we say and put his findings in an > extra thread or extra glossary software, if he wishes. We could give him > feedback and make suggestions for alterations and in the end have a product > called "Allan's Soul Dictionary (ASD)" and would all be happy ever after... > > Am Montag, 9. März 2015 schrieb archytas : > > Of course, one cannot get far in AI without defining what an intelligent > agent is. Maybe AI is soul, seeking to free itself from our biology or > Gabby's stuck time loop? > > On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 2:29:39 PM UTC, archytas wrote: > > So could you. Even my machines have a 'this didn't work before' routine > and 'try something else'. Would a reboot help? > > On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 2:10:18 PM UTC, Gabby wrote: > > But you could help to build a repository of meaningful content for the > soul, at least in our context here. This is what I suggested before. If you > want to, I can go back and find that posting for you. > > Am Montag, 9. März 2015 schrieb : > > Primate chatter makes more sense. > > I have little to no doubt that you can create a program or programs to > mimic human behavior. Hopefully eliminating poor behavior in getting hung > up in endless loops . .. which can be of great advantage.. at the same time > it can get trapped in loops from which it can not escape making the same > error endlessly.. another human trait. > > Just because you can mimic human thinking and logic flawlessly. The real > problem is is logic can not create a soul.. probably because so little is > known or understood.. to me that is the major problem with Artificial > intelligence. > > > تجنب. القتل والاغتصاب واستعباد الآخرين > Avoid; murder, rape and enslavement of others > > -----Original Message----- > From: archytas <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Mon, 09 Mar 2015 1:58 PM > Subject: Re: Mind's Eye Re: Götterdämmerung > > One of the missing themes in social epistemology is that people might have > already worked out the 'great theory of coerced oppression' themselves. > The theory then just tells everyone what they knew from experience. Huge > numbers of people think the stuff naive in the face of obvious power. We > then kow-tow like dogs in a pack or chimps under the alpha (a 'political > appointee'). Teaching is a kind of suppressing fire in this view. A lot > of biological metaphors make sense here. Insect consensus, the ability of > parasites in control, leadership bringing sex and huge biological change - > and I defy anyone to listen to primate chatter without recognizing > Parliament. > > Windows 7 comes in home, professional and ultimate. Any disk version you > buy actually has all the versions on it and a small bit of program gives > you access to all versions (but you still need the MS product key to > activate). Humans may be held in something like this condition, switched > off from Molly's higher planes. One sees this all over the plant and > animal world, plus cascade genetics and the managing HOX genes (snakes > could have legs etc) - some developmental switch makes most of the > difference, not the actual genes. Bees can actually reprogram themselves > between nurse and forager. > > I do sometimes wonder if we could bring human change by identifying the > micro-organism that rules us, like drunken ants staggering to their doom at > lunar noon under fungal influence! Habermas ain't the antidote, though he > does tell us someone else has thought some of it through as we might have > guessed. I think machines can help much more than we admit. Though we > also separate the machines from matters like love and caring for a deaf > child. > > On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 11:18:21 AM UTC, Molly wrote: > > Cheers, Francis, to all the mad stuff you are doing! > > On Sunday, March 8, 2015 at 10:34:26 PM UTC-4, frantheman wrote: > > Don't worry, Neil, I haven't sold out and swallowed the academic bait with > hook, line and sinker! There is, as you often and rightly point out, an > immense amount of waffle in the whole academic business, frequently > clothing platitudes, or very small ideas in pages of obfusticating > gobbledegook, all of it referenced with hundreds of footnotes to show > everyone how clever and diligent you are. > > But, as I mentioned earlier, I have - after a break of nearly 30 years - > once more formally engaged with the academic world, and am just finishing > the first semester of a Masters programme in cultural studies. However I'm > fortunate that I have no great ambitions to make a career out of it, nor am > I compelled to do so. I still work at an honest job to make a living, > though I have been able to cut down my working hours to the extent that I > now get by with doing eight night-shifts per month, looking after four > chronically seriously ill children. - - > > - - (short pause in writing this to detach a seven year hellion from her > respirator and monitor so that she can go to the bathroom, followed by a > discussion in sign-language (she's deaf), making it clear to her that she > must go back to sleep as it's only two thirty in the morning and she has to > go to school tomorrow. She may have many health issues, but for all that > she's a typical seven year old, with an infinite capacity for negotiation > about stuff she doesn't feel like doing) - - > > - - Furthermore, I am immensely fortunate to live in a country where third > level education - at state universities (and the > > ... -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. 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