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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
 Posted - 12/08/2004 : 11:19:04
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Anyone get into this e-prime idea at all? What do you think?
IS it stupid, or would it seem to help develop a more precise thinking process?
http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm
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I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Wendy
SFN Regular
USA
614 Posts |
Posted - 12/08/2004 : 11:40:29 [Permalink]
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Sure, it's all about semantics but I don't think it's stupid. Though more wordy and cumbersome, I think this method does often serve to make things more clear, and it is certainly more accurate.
It makes me think of John Wilkins and his An Essay Towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language.
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Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon.
-- Susan Ertz
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 12/08/2004 : 13:45:29 [Permalink]
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I seemed to read through the entire article before noticing that Robert Anton Wilson appears to have written it. E-Prime appears to me to consist of little more than a denial that any sort of absolute truth might exist. While mostly true, I have a hard time thinking that E-Prime could effectively be applied to subjects like logic and math, in which absolute truth is a premise.
And, of course, rewriting a sentence like "the speed of light in a vacuum is constant" to express doubt in that fact would make physics more messy, not more clear. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 12/08/2004 : 19:13:29 [Permalink]
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| Well, it's not "just because it can be done," but Wilson is trying to make the case that making the uncertainty in science explicit makes it better. However, most scientists understand already that when a report says, "the potential was 3.5 volts," it really means, "the potential we measured (between the two points already mentioned, under the conditions already mentioned, and at the time we made the measurement) appeared to be 3.5 volts, assuming that our voltmeter was working correctly and the laws of physics didn't change on us momentarily." But just makes papers longer, not better. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 08:32:28 [Permalink]
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Interesting. It at least seems like something to keep in mind when speaking or writing. Even writing this, though, I'm wondering why it would be better to say something like, "writing with e-prime would help us be more precise in our thinking," than it would be to write, "writing with e-prime would seem to involve a more precise method of speaking and writing."
Crap! The second way does seem to sound better. I can't write more because now I'm thinking about every word. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 10:50:18 [Permalink]
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| At the current state of my social and mental maturity E-prime appears stupid. |
If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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R.Wreck
SFN Regular
USA
1191 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 17:58:30 [Permalink]
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Actually, this may be useful. How about:
In what appears to be the beginning it seems what I classify as God created what appears to be the heavens and the earth.
The earth appeared to be formless and void, and darkness seemed to be over the surface of the deep, and what seemed to be the Spirit of God seemed to be moving over the surface of the waters.
Then what appeared to be God seemed to say, "Let there seem to be light"; and there appeared to be light.
What I classify as God saw that the light seemed to be good; and what seems to be God appeared to separate the light from the darkness.
Might just make some people think a little about what to believe.
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The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley
The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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Renae
SFN Regular
543 Posts |
Posted - 12/12/2004 : 10:44:50 [Permalink]
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In journalism school, they beat you with a stick until you write with as few words as possible. It's a funamental concept in media writing: edit, edit, edit. It's good advice for most people who write, IMO. Scientists get something of a dispensation on this when they must communicate with accuracy, no matter how tedious or arcane that may be.
E-prime makes more words....which can decrease the purpose of communicating, which is to communicate. If that makes sense.  |
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