I recall the television series “Star Trek” … and the entries entered into the “Captain’s Log”, which were spoken somewhat in the voice of a narrator. This didn’t occur odd to me at the time, but as I reflect on it now, I do find it odd that this narration seemed so trustworthy and reliable.… Continue reading Captain’s Log
Tag: natural language
We need to figure out what’s going on
This is something a Silicon Valley celebrity said recently — and I’ve decided to “steal” it because the meaning is actually rather ambiguous and depends a lot on context. The person who said it, simply said it in passing and didn’t contextualize what was meant at all — I actually have a vague “gut feeling”… Continue reading We need to figure out what’s going on
Whose Language?
Let me start with a little English lesson. English has many homonyms, other languages also have many homonyms. Sometimes I try to wake people up to the fact that there are many words in their own language that sound just like something completely different in other languages. I often have to think twice about the… Continue reading Whose Language?
About: Technological Limitations of the Publishing Model as an Information and Communications Technology
I am currently on what has gradually become an annual retreat with a now nearly life-long debating friend in which we spar over various topics for small bouts that last ranging amounts of time, from two minutes to two hours to two years and sometimes even beyond that. Yesterday we engaged in such a bout… Continue reading About: Technological Limitations of the Publishing Model as an Information and Communications Technology
Mainstream and / or Main Stream?
Modern English and Modern German are closely related languages. Generally, when linguists say something like this, it mainly means something like “there once existed another language which was neither Modern English nor Modern German, yet which is common ancestor of both languages”. Of course something as complex as a language can hardly be described in… Continue reading Mainstream and / or Main Stream?
What’s X?
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Source: Quoted by Adam Curry on “No Agenda” Show [Episode 1601, 32:20 https://www.noagendashow.net/listen/1601/shownotes… Continue reading What’s X?
The further on I go, the less I know
Wittgenstein had a saying about “die Grenzen meiner Sprache”, namely that these correspond to “die Grenzen meiner Welt”. [1] In my not-so humble opinion, this quote misses something very fundamental about language: that it does not exist in any “particular individual” (see also the previous post, “Self Mythology“). Language is a technology that exists between… Continue reading The further on I go, the less I know
Lifetime Guarantee for How Natural Languages Scale
In the last episode, we looked at a few different scales — implicitly, from technology and product life cycles, through writing, biology and genetic information all the way across the universe back to the Big Bang itself. Seen this way, the irony of seeing writing and written langages as something permanent becomes crystal clear. Perhaps… Continue reading Lifetime Guarantee for How Natural Languages Scale
Rates of Evolution
Evolution is often thought of as a single thing. Yet’s it’s not even a thing at all — it’s a phenomenon, a figment of our imaginations, one way that we interpret the world we live in. It is perhaps one of our most abstract scientific concepts. At the same time, no one even just somewhat… Continue reading Rates of Evolution
Motivational Characteristics of Marketplace Participants
I have thought about issues related to “Motivational Characteristics of Marketplace Participants” for quite some time already. Although that title is already quite long, I think I need to narrow down what I intend to write about today even more. I want to contrast two instances of marketplaces — one from the past, the other… Continue reading Motivational Characteristics of Marketplace Participants
Socio Business blog 