What if 'error' was not in a programmable vocabulary?
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From: Link on 7 Apr 2010 14:31 On Apr 7, 8:01 am, John Stafford <n...(a)droffats.net> wrote: > On Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:45:09 -0700, Now that is one happy monkey. wrote: > > > > > You hear it all the time in movies or on TV, most often as a cliche, > > "(so-and-so) doesn't know the meaning of surrender. Another version > > goes, "failure" is not in (so-and-so's) vocabulary. But think for a > > minute, really think, what if the word "error" did not exist in the > > English or any language, how might a thinker with a bit of imagination > > and intellect, or perhaps ingenuity, seize those five little letters > > dreaded by end-users and use them to innovate or create anew in the > > realm between personage and machine? > > I am not sure I understand your idea of no-being of the word error, so > forgive if I am off. > > There are computer programs that do not use 'error' to redirect the > program when it does not perform to the goal. Consider a program written > about by Danny Hillis in his book _The Pattern on the Stone_. It was > code that was given a goal of sorting an unsorted list. It was directed > by example: a simple heuristic that said, in effect, "This list > represents the goal." And the program was to rewrite itself until it > successfully created a sorted list. (I do not know if the objective was > to create code that could sort _any_ list.) > > The outcome was very efficient code that even Danny Hillis could hardly > understand. > > Concerning a human language and everyday human activities with no > concept of Error (in fact and in practice) - well, very much of our > human navigation through life is done without a conscious, > language-oriented Error recognition. Instead there is an unconscious > correction made. Sight is one of the senses that operates thus. > You hear it all the time in movies or on TV, most often as a cliche, > "(so-and-so) doesn't know the meaning of surrender. Another version > goes, "failure" is not in (so-and-so's) vocabulary. But think for a > minute, really think, what if the word "error" did not exist in the > English or any language, how might a thinker with a bit of imagination > and intellect, or perhaps ingenuity, seize those five little letters > dreaded by end-users and use them to innovate or create anew in the > realm between personage and machine? I am not sure I understand your idea of no-being of the word error, so forgive if I am off. ***Not far but perhaps a little. What I mean is the idea of no redirection. The idea of to a machine, and to the very nature of computation is inherently constructive. (i.e. the computer does not know error means failure, it, to the machine, I surmise must mean, literally a non-meaningful representation toward another construction which may or may not be applicable to the goal of a given program. There are computer programs that do not use 'error' to redirect the program when it does not perform to the goal. ***What happens when there is no redirection when the program does not perform to the goal? Consider a program written about by Danny Hillis in his book _The Pattern on the Stone_. ***Thank you for this, sounds like a great read! It was code that was given a goal of sorting an unsorted list. It was directed by example: a simple heuristic that said, in effect, "This list represents the goal." And the program was to rewrite itself until it successfully created a sorted list. (I do not know if the objective was to create code that could sort _any_ list.) The outcome was very efficient code that even Danny Hillis could hardly understand. Concerning a human language and everyday human activities with no concept of Error (in fact and in practice) - well, very much of our human navigation through life is done without a conscious, language-oriented Error recognition. Instead there is an unconscious correction made. Sight is one of the senses that operates thus. ***what if error meant "start over, continue, try variation"? meami.org |