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Message-ID: <1fgg8dk.wollqgpd6dcN%spog@jwgh.org> Subject: Re: language as base-representation and ideas as numbers Re: From: "Jacob W. Haller" <spog at jwgh.org> Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 16:13:30 -0400
Archimedes Plutonium <a_plutonium at dtgnet.com> wrote:
Sat, 27 Jul 2002 21:04:36 GMT "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:Also, has anyone ever told Antonin Scalia to "sit on it"? I'M JUST WONDERING IS ALL.1Archimedes Plutonium wrote:I wonder if anyone made an appearance in court or Supreme court or testify to Congress with uhha and unha.So, is there a language on Earth where the words for yes and no are so close together in spelling and pronunciation that a world of confusion can occur.Unh-hunh/. (You don't reply unh-unh\, do you?)
Also, it's the only newsgroup where language is Allowed. Messages in other newsgroups must be expressed through interpretive dance. For instance:(I have no idea what anything else in that posting, including the supposed explanation of soar/sour, meant.)This is sci.language and so it should have some science in it.
/O\ \|/ | / \ | | | means, "Oh, no! Archimedes Plutonium is being an idiot again!" |
\ O / \|/ | / \ / \ | means, "I just got a strike in duckpin bowling!"2 |
We substitute language for base-representation. We substitute an idea for a number.Then we substitute typing for ideas. HAW HAW!
Example: Champernowne's number is 0.1234567891011.... in base-10. Let us say this number is the idea of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and base-10 is the German language. Now, let us say that base-11 is English language.Wait, are we saying that in base 10 or base 11?
And so we convert Champernowne's number to base-11 and after we do so, it just does not come out as perfectly ordered as what it is in base-10.Also, it's uglier when you use Helvetica than it is in other fonts. I JUST NOTICED THAT NUMBERS LOOK DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT FONTS! I R GENIUS!
And even more, we convert Champernowne's number to base-2 and it comes out even more chaotic then base-11. Let us say base-2 is the ancient Latin language.Which base is Klingon?
Another example: let us say English language is base-10 and the number 303.33... is the idea of the definition of superconductivity. Let us say that some tribal language in Africa or South America is base-149. Convert 303.33.... into base 149 and is it as nice as 303.33....?This explains why it's so hot in Africa and South America.
Now, let us say that the idea of "yes" and the idea of "no" in base-10 as the English language is represented by the numbers 3.14... and 2.71... What we know as pi and e.Die Ludolphshe Zahl wurde RUINIERT!3
And let us say that base-11 is the German language. In German, yes is "Ja" and no is "nein" And pi and e in base-11 are not much different than base-10, and yes looks like ja and no looks like nein.It's true! "Yes" and "Ja" look exactly the same, apart from having no letters in common and different lengths! Unless you look at them in Wingdings or something. <-- MORE EVIDENCE OF GENIUS!
But now, let us say that the language of babies or infants in their infant talk of unh-huh as yes and unh-unh as no is that of base-2 and when we convert pi and e to base-2, they look the same in large part.YEAH! They just look like a bunch of ONES AND ZEROES! What's up with THAT?
In this manner, we can say the English language compared to French compared to German are different base representations such as base-10 compared to base-11 compared to base-12. An idea is a number in a base-representation. Such as Champernowne's number in base-10 is perhaps the idea of Amperes law. But when we put Champernowne's number in base-11, it no longer is as well behaved and ordered. Likewise, some languages handle an idea better than other languages.Fortunately, Atom Totality Theory4 is 0 in all languages!
There is merit in analogizing base-representation to languages. For we all know that some languages can accomodate ideas better than other languages.For instance, what could match French's 'esprit de l'escalier'? Or English's 'bozo'?
The ideas of quantum mechanics in a tribal language is near impossible to convey. And numbers themselves are both rational and irrational and ideas are either easy to grasp or difficult to grasp.The analogy is perfect! It's like a chain where if you make any link in the chain stronger the chain as a whole gets stronger!5
So there is much to commend in this analogy between base-representation as languages and numbers as ideas in those languages.
/O\
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-jwgh
--
"If Americans treated dead people the way they treat dead computers,
their basements and closets would be cluttered with family corpses."
--Carey Goldberg,
"Where Do Computers Go When They Die", New York Times 3/12/98
The discussion that I was breaking into here started with Archie complaining that "soar" and "sour" were so similar. He wondered if there were any languages where important words like "yes" and "no" sounded as similar. Mr. Daniels pointed out that informal English is such a language. This set off a tirade, which I then commented on.
This specific comment of mine was intended to convey that I thought that Archie's question, whether "uh-huh" and "nuh-huh" were allowed in court, was irrelevant and kind of dumb.
Sit on it
comes from Happy Days and Kibo's references to same.
What is relevant is that many duckpin alleys have somewhat elderly electronic scoring systems that feature odd computer animations as you bowl. One I went to used ASCII graphics; if you bowled a strike an ASCII stick figure jumped up and down in apparent delight.
I'm mocking the notion that constants like Pi can be considered language- (or base-) specific.