Representations

Representations Floyd Nelson A.D 2009 December 28

Ways to Communicate • Sound • Sight • gestures • facial expressions • symbols • letters • From any conscious input the AIS has. • pressure (touch) • temperature • Animate and inanimate objects can “communicate” or have representation. • Seeing a lot of things in a garbage can communicates to you “the garbage can is full”

Linguistic Ideas • Characters • letters • phonetic sounds • Semantics • smallest parts of words that have meaning • Syntax • grammar • word order • Context • communication from another source • “That dog ran”; context will tell you which dog ran. • Human languages typically have between 1,500 (Lojban) to 250,000 (English) words. • French and Spanish have about 100,000 words • When scientific words are included there may be more than 1,000,000 words in English • An average educated person knows 20,000 words and uses 2,000 words each week. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JohnnyLing.shtml • There are many more representations than words in the English language.

Sounds • There are about 30 to 55 common sounds used in languages. • About 13 of those sounds are vowels. • Diphthongs are like two sounds fused together. • j: d zh • oi: Ø i • ou: a Ø • x: k s • Humans have mechanical methods of making sounds which limits the number of sounds they can make (Good or Bad?). • Lyre bird (many sounds)

Types of sentences • Question- ? • Will you give me $5? • Statement- . • She is giving me $5. • Command- ! • Give me $5! • Any type of sentence can be converted to a statement • SO, the AIS is able to think in terms of statements without thinking in terms of commands or questions. • Question: Do you like french-fries? • She wants me to tell her whether or not I like french-fries. • Command: Go to your room! • He wants me to go to my room.

Types of words • Noun • used for the subject of a sentence • Adjective • describes a noun • Verb • used for the predicate of a sentence • Adverb • describes a verb • *Every type of word has an “image” of something and what it is doing • something can be ”nothing” • doing can be “nothing” • Conjunctions join sentences/fragments together

Common Words • is • of • detail of broad • broad from detail • the • not a necessary word • noun prefix • to • verb prefix • The flower is red. • flower red. • The red flower is big. • flower red big. • The red of the flower is dark. • The red is dark of the flower. • red dark flower. • Abstract types of words • direction: left, up • shapes: circle, cube • scale: large, small • color: green, yellow • senses…: pressure, temperature • scientificmeasures…: grams, meters • time: past, future • number: two, seventy four • emotion: happy, funny • informal v formal: here v. there, this v. that • male v female: he v she, (Spanish) el v la

Question words • Who • what person/animal/machine • What • what thing • Where • what location • When • what time • Why • what is the cause of (mentally) • How • what is the cause of (physically) • How many • what number • Which • what of • who, what, where, and when are related • why and how are related • which, and how many are partly related • Every question word can be replaced with the question word: what.

The concept of nothing • All subjects can never do nothing, unless the subject does not exist. • He is doing nothing. • He is actually sitting/laying/standing still. • If he has became dust, and the dust is not him, and he has no afterlife, then he is doing nothing. • Nothing can run. • “Nothing” is the subject, so this usage is okay. • Nothing  0 • There is no (nothing) water in the cup. • There is 0 grams of water in the cup. • I feel no pressure. • I feel pressure. The amount of pressure I feel is 0 Pascal's. • If I am incapable of sensing pressure, then the pressure I feel is nothing.

Connections • Dog • You think of images of dogs and what you know that dogs do • Running • You think of an object or objects that can “run”. • Humans can run, but so can dogs and computers (metaphorically). • The dog is running • You imagine only a dog that is running. • Gitchúby • You imagine only a pineapple falling, because I defined gitchuby to mean “pineapple falling”. • One word can have both a noun and verb part. • Sherkúlock • You imagine the sounds of sherkulock, what makes those sounds, and the ideas you have involving those sounds, because I have not defined sherkulock. • A “word” can have “no known meaning”.

Connections part II • an object can represent a • object • representation • function/algorithm

Theory of Language • All language must communicate a comparison between two or more things. • A comparison may be a function like ≥ or • Types of functions • assignment • declaration* • testing • selecting • Thing: parts are learned from experience • Concept: a combination of parts of things • You possess your foot, but your foot also posses you. You possess your foot, arm, and head. Feet possess you, dogs, and cats.

Representations