Language quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
- 1 Isaac_Asimov
- 2 David_Auerbach
- 3 Bible_Verses
- 4 Robert_N_Britcher
- 5 DeMarco and Lister
- 6 Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra
- 7 Dedre_Gentner
- 8 J_A_Haar
- 9 Donald_Hoffman
- 10 Karl_Marx
- 11 Galileo
- 12 William_Rowan_Hamilton
- 13 Carl_Jung
- 14 John_von_Neumann
- 15 J_Robert_Oppenheimer
- 16 Ipek_Ozkaya
- 17 Alan_Perlis
- 18 Henri_Poincaré
- 19 Herbert_Schildt
- 20 Melvin_Schwartz
- 21 Rebecca_Shafir
- 22 Herbert_Simon
- 23 Alfred_Tarski
- 24 Waldo_and_Boussard
- 25 Gerald_Weinberg
- 26 Eugene_Wigner
- 27 Ludwig_Wittgenstein
- 28 Edward_Yourdon
- 29 Shoshana_Zuboff
Isaac_Asimov
Science and Mathematics
“It is quite possible that mathematics was invented in the ancient Middle East to keep track of tax receipts and grain stores. How odd that out of this should come a subtle scientific language that can effectively describe and predict the most arcane aspects of the Universe.”
- Source: Isaac Asimov, chapter epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, edited by Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman, published in 1988 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York. Chapter 68, page 265. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Possible_quotes Mathematics_quotes Invention_quotes Ancient_quotes MiddleEast_quotes Keep_quotes Track_quotes Tax_quotes Receipt_quotes Grain_quotes Store_quotes Odd_quotes Come_quotes Subtle_quotes Scientific_quotes Language_quotes Effective_quotes Describe_quotes Predict_quotes Arcane_quotes Aspect_quotes Universe_quotes
David_Auerbach
Natural Language Truth
“Few would say natural language is the ideal mechanism for expressing truths about the world.”
- Source: David Auerbach, in the article “Bitwise: A Life in Code” published in 2019 in Communications of the ACM, Volume 62, Issue 9 (September). DOI: 10.1145/3347864.
- Keywords: Few_quotes Say_quotes Natural_quotes Language_quotes Ideal_quotes Mechanism_quotes Express_quotes Truth_quotes World_quotes
Bible_Verses
Tower Of Babel (Genesis 11:4-6)
(4) “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
(5) “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.”
(6) “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
- Source: Genesis 11:4-6, King James Version of the Bible. Online at https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/.
- Keywords: Lord_quotes Build_quotes City_quotes Tower_quotes Top_quotes Reach_quotes Heaven_quotes Make_quotes Name_quotes Pride_quotes Hubris_quotes Scatter_quotes Face_quotes Whole_quotes Earth_quotes Children_quotes Men_quotes People_quotes One_quotes Unity_quotes Cooperation_quotes Language_quotes Do_quotes Nothing_quotes Restraint_quotes Imagination_quotes Babel_quotes
Robert_N_Britcher
Consciousness
“Consciousness is a word created by humans, in this case English-speaking humans, to describe something humans know nothing about.”
- Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 28.
- Keywords: Consciousness_quotes Word_quotes Language_quotes Humanity_quotes Knowledge_quotes Ignorance_quotes Create_quotes Speak_quotes Description_quotes
Requirements Testing
“Requirements testing is a subtle way of treating a nonlinear, unpredictable system as if it were a discrete symbol like a number or a word. The potential and the actual become muddled. Requirements are natural language statements, peppered in places with arithmetic. These are discrete and usually quite vague representations of the system as it might become. But the truth is that two teams writing requirements for the same system would describe them differently, and neither would get it quite right, simply because 'right' cannot be known until the system is built. ... Requirements testing is a little like trying to reduce crime in England by running a test for each line in the Magna Carta. In practice, rhetoric replaces the scientific method. As with mathematical proofs, the quest for 'true or not false' soon turns into a party - a not very cordial party - marked by endless debate over whether this sentence or that sentence has been verified by this moment of behavior or that.”
- Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 157.
- Keywords: Requirements_quotes Testing_quotes Nonlinear_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Prediction_quotes System_quotes Symbol_quotes Potential_quotes Actual_quotes Language_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Discrete_quotes Vagueness_quotes Representation_quotes Truth_quotes Team_quotes Writing_quotes Description_quotes Correctness_quotes Accuracy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Magna_Carta_quotes Rhetorical_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Mathematics_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Debate_quotes Verification_quotes Behavior_quotes Subtle_quotes Treat_quotes Number_quotes Word_quotes Muddle_quotes Natural_quotes Pepper_quotes Right_quotes Build_quotes Try_quotes Reduce_quotes Crime_quotes England_quotes Line_quotes Practice_quotes Proof_quotes Quest_quotes Party_quotes Cordial_quotes Sentence_quotes Moment_quotes
Theory Informs Programming
“...theory has informed Programming largely through programming languages.”
- Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 18.
- Keywords: Programming_quotes Science_quotes Theory_quotes Inform_quotes Language_quotes
DeMarco and Lister
Project Politics
"The cause of failure most frequently cited by our survey participants was 'politics.' But now observe that people tend to use this word rather sloppily. Included under 'politics' are such unrelated or loosely related things as communication problems, staffing problems, disenchantment with the boss or with the client, lack of motivation, and high turnover. People often use the word politics to describe any aspect of the work that is people-related, but the English language provides a much more precise term for these effects: They constitute the project’s sociology. The truly political problems are a tiny and pathological subset."
- Source: Book:: Entitled: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Edition: 3rd. Written by: Tom DeMarco; Tim Lister. Date published: 1987; 1999; 2013. Publisher: Addison-Wesley. Country: USA; GBR; CAN; DEU; FRA; ESP; ZAF; AUS; JPN; SGP; MEX. Language: en. ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-0-321-93411-6 (alk paper); 0-321-93411-3 (alk paper). Chapter: 1 (Somewhere Today, a Project Is Failing).
- Keywords: Failure_quotes Survey_quotes Political_quotes Observation_quotes People_quotes Sloppy_quotes Imprecise_quotes Communication_quotes Staffing_quotes Human_Resources_quotes Management_quotes Boss_quotes Disenchantment_quotes Client_quotes Motivation_quotes Turnover_quotes Sociology_quotes Project_quotes Pathological_quotes Resource_quotes Cause_quotes Frequent_quotes Participant_quotes Aspect_quotes Work_quotes Language_quotes Precise_quotes Term_quotes Effect_quotes
Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra
Math and Language
“Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.”
- Source: Dijkstra (1975). How do we tell truths that might hurt? (numbered EWD498, written 1975). Retrieved 2022 from http://www.cs.utexas.edu
/users /EWD /transcriptions /EWD04xx /EWD498.html.
Humble Programmers
"We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers."
- Source: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra in an article entitled The Humble Programmer. Written by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Published 1972 in Communications of the ACM, volume 15, number 10. DOI: 10.1145/355604.361591.
Dedre_Gentner
Language and Analogy
“Language is necessary to realize the full potential of our analogical capacity.”
- Source: Dedre Gentner in the academic paper entitled ‘Bootstrapping the mind: Analogical processes and symbol systems’, Cognitive Science, volume 34, issue 5, 2010, pages 752-775. DOI 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01114.x
- Keywords: Language_quotes Analogy_quotes Necessary_quotes Realize_quotes Full_quotes Potential_quotes Capacity_quotes
J_A_Haar
Software Documentation
“A standard for program documentation when programs are written in symbolic machine language should be set and each program should include this standard documentation in the ‘remarks field’ of the symbolic program.”
- Source: J.A. Haar in a report entitled Software Engineering: Report of a Conference Sponsored by the NATO Science Committee. Chaired by Friedrich Ludwig Bauer. Edited by P. Naur; B. Randell. Conference held 1968-10-07 through 1968-10-11 in Garmisch, Germany. OCLC: 35337842. See http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/index.html ; http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1968.PDF ; https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1102020 ; https://books.google.com/books/about/Software_engineering.html?id=Uc9QAAAAYAAJ . Page 52.
- Keywords: Standards_quotes Documentation_quotes Programming_quotes Comment_quotes Program_quotes Symbolic_quotes Machine_quotes Language_quotes Remark_quotes
Donald_Hoffman
AI Computation
“If we look at an LLM [Large Language Model] or a future AI [Artificial Intelligence], it's going to be some kind of computational system. And computational systems have their limits. We have Gödel who said that at a minimum. I'm betting that you and I are avatars of an infinite intelligence that's the true source of all creativity and that Einstein or any scientist taps into when they come up with their truly original ideas. The first step would be to say, if it's just a computational bias, then it doesn't transcend. It doesn't get to this true originality. But then there's a deeper level... These are just avatars in a particular headset. So why can't we create a new avatar in our headset that looks like a computer that is actually an avatar of the deep intelligence? If we are only going to stick with the computational thing... But somehow the [human] avatar is a portal into the infinite consciousness... And we know one way of creating new portals into this infinite consciousness, and that is having kids. So that is one technology that allows us to do that. Once we understand spacetime as a headset, and we understand the headset and at least some layers of its relationship to the infinite reality, that's the source of true insight and true originality and creativity, could we figure out new ways to open up genuine new portals, and might that look like AI… The jury is out.”
- Source: Donald Hoffman, in the YouTube video entitled “Donald Hoffman's New Approach To Consciousness” channel “Dr Brian Keating”. Online at <https://youtu.be/mU_WBela71Y?si=fNfLLsOsUDRDC1XD> posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. In video at 1:14:40.
- Keywords: Look_quotes LLM_quotes Large_quotes Language_quotes Model_quotes Future_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Computation_quotes System_quotes Limit_quotes Gödel(topic)_quotes Minimum_quotes Bet_quotes Avatar_quotes Infinite_quotes True_quotes Source_quotes Creativity_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Scientist_quotes Tap_quotes Original_quotes Idea_quotes Bias_quotes Transcend_quotes Deep_quotes Level_quotes Particular_quotes Headset_quotes Create_quotes New_quotes Computer_quotes Actual_quotes Human_quotes Portal_quotes Consciousness_quotes Kid_quotes Technology_quotes Allow_quotes Understand_quotes Spacetime_quotes Relationship_quotes Reality_quotes Figure_quotes Way_quotes Open_quotes Genuine_quotes Jury_quotes
Karl_Marx
Pinpricks and Clubs
“It is a bad thing to perform menial duties even for the sake of freedom; to fight with pinpricks, instead of with clubs. I have become tired of hypocrisy, stupidity, gross arbitrariness, and of our bowing and scraping, dodging, and hair-splitting over words. Consequently, the government has given me back my freedom.”
- Source: Letter from Marx to Arnold Ruge (25 January 1843), after the Prussian government dissolved the newspaper Neue Rheinische Zeitung, of which Marx was the editor.
- Keywords: Menial_quotes Freedom_quotes Fighting_quotes Violence_quotes Hypocrisy_quotes Stupidity_quotes Arbitrariness_quotes Government_quotes Language_quotes Words_quotes Subjugation_quotes Bad_quotes Duty_quotes Pinprick_quotes Club_quotes Tired_quotes Bowing_quotes Scrape_quotes Dodge_quotes Hair_quotes Split_quotes Give_quotes
Galileo
Universe Mathematical
“The universe...stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics...”
- Source: Galileo Il Saggiatore (1623)
William_Rowan_Hamilton
Theory and Hypothesis
“This word [theoryJ is employed by English writers in a very loose and improper sense. It is with them usually convertible into hypothesis, and hypothesis is commonly used as another term for conjecture. The terms theory and theoretical are properly used in opposition to the terms practice and practical. In this sense they were exclusively employed by the ancients; and in this sense they are almost exclusively employed by the continental philosophers.”
- Source: Written by William Rowan Hamilton. Recorded in the book 'Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, edited by Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman, published in 1988 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York. Chapter 84, quote number 84.9, page 325. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
- Keywords: Word_quotes Theory_quotes Employ_quotes English_quotes Language_quotes Writer_quotes Loose_quotes Improper_quotes Sense_quotes Convertible_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Common_quotes Term_quotes Practice_quotes Practical_quotes Exclusive_quotes Ancient_quotes Continental_quotes Philosopher_quotes
Carl_Jung
Dream Language
“Dreams pave the way for life, and they determine you without you understanding their language.”
- Source: Written by Carl G. Jung in ‘The Red Book’, also known as ‘Liber Novus’, which was originally written from 1914 to 1930. It was first published in 2009 by W. W. Norton in a facsimile edition, complete with an English translation. The edition used here is the book ‘The Red Book: Liber Novus: A Reader's Edition’, written by C. G. Jung, edited with an introduction by Sonu Shamdasani, translated by Mark Kyburz, John Peck, and Sonu Shamdasani; published by W. W. Norton in 2012; ISBN 978-0393089080; Page 133.
- Keywords: Dream_quotes Pave_quotes Way_quotes Life_quotes Determine_quotes Understanding_quotes Language_quotes Symbol_quotes
John_von_Neumann
Language Historical
“It is only proper to realize that language is largely a historical accident... It is only reasonable to assume that logics and mathematics are similarly historical, accidental forms of expression.”
- Source: John von Neumann. (1958). The Computer and the Brain (1st ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Part 2, page 81.
- Keywords: Language_quotes History_quotes Logic_quotes Mathematics_quotes Accident_quotes Expression_quotes Assumption_quotes Form_quotes Reason_quotes
J_Robert_Oppenheimer
Science Starts with Preconception
“Science starts with preconception, with the common culture, and with common sense. It moves on to observation, is marked by the discovery of paradox, and is then concerned with the correction of preconception. It moves then to use these corrections for the designing of further observation and for more refined experiment. And as it moves along this course the nature of the evidence and experience that nourish it becomes more and more unfamiliar; it is not just the language that is strange [to common culture].”
- Source: J. Robert Oppenheimer, From 'The Growth of Science and the Structure of Culture', Daedalus (Winter 1958), 87, No. 1, 67.
- Keywords: Science_quotes Preconception_quotes Common_quotes Culture_quotes Common_Sense_quotes Observation_quotes Discovery_quotes Paradox_quotes Correction_quotes Assumption_quotes Design_quotes Experiment_quotes Nature_quotes Evidence_quotes Experience_quotes Nourish_quotes Unfamiliar_quotes Language_quotes Strange_quotes Sense_quotes
Ipek_Ozkaya
Next Generation Software Engineers
“With LLMs and their sister AI-driven apps assisting developers, we need to be teaching next-generation software engineers when to trust, how to create evidence to trust, how to do trust assessment rapidly and correctly, and how to improve such assistants.”
- Source: Ipek Ozkaya, “Application of Large Language Models to Software Engineering Tasks: Opportunities, Risks, and Implications,” in IEEE Software, volume 40, number 3, pages 4-8, May-June 2023, DOI: 10.1109/MS.2023.3248401.
- Keywords: LLM_quotes Large_quotes Language_quotes Model_quotes Sister_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes App_quotes Application_quotes Assist_quotes Developer_quotes Need_quotes Teach_quotes Next_quotes Generation_quotes Software_quotes Engineer_quotes Trust_quotes Create_quotes Evidence_quotes Assessment_quotes Rapid_quotes Correct_quotes Improve_quotes Assistant_quotes
Alan_Perlis
Programming Language
“A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing.”
- Source: Perlis, A. J. (1982). Special Feature: Epigrams on programming. ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 17(9), 7–13. http://doi.org/10.1145/947955.1083808
- Keywords: Language_quotes Affect_quotes Way_quotes Programming_quotes Knowledge_quotes Think_quotes Worth_quotes
Command Language
“A good system can't have a weak command language.”
- Source: Perlis, A. J. (1982). Special Feature: Epigrams on programming. ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 17(9), 7–13. http://doi.org/10.1145/947955.1083808
- Keywords: Good_quotes System_quotes Weakness_quotes Command_quotes Language_quotes
Programming Language Wish
“When someone says ‘I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done,’ give him a lollipop.”
- Source: Perlis, A. J. (1982). Special Feature: Epigrams on programming. ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 17(9), 7–13. http://doi.org/10.1145/947955.1083808
- Keywords: Programming_quotes Language_quotes Voice_Command_quotes Wish_quotes Do_quotes Lollipop_quotes Say_quotes
Unnatural Natural Language
“Within a computer natural language is unnatural.”
- Source: Perlis, A. J. (1982). Special Feature: Epigrams on programming. ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 17(9), 7–13. http://doi.org/10.1145/947955.1083808
- Keywords: Natural_quotes Unnatural_quotes Computer_quotes Language_quotes
Balance Efficiency and Generality
“Our progress, then, is measured by the balance we achieve between efficiency and generality. As the nature of our involvement with computation changes — and it does — the appropriate description of language changes; our emphasis shifts. I feel that our successor model will show such a change. Computer science is a restless infant and its progress depends as much on shifts in point of view as on the orderly development of our current concepts.”
- Source: Perlis, A. J. (1966). The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems. In ACM Turing award lectures Year Awarded 1966. http://doi.org/10.1145/1283920.1283921
- Keywords: Progress_quotes Measurement_quotes Balance_quotes Achievement_quotes Efficiency_quotes Generality_quotes Nature_quotes Involve_quotes Computation_quotes Change_quotes Appropriate_quotes Description_quotes Language_quotes Emphasis_quotes Shift_quotes Feel_quotes Successor_quotes Model_quotes Show_quotes Computer_Science_quotes Restless_quotes Infant_quotes Dependence_quotes Point_of_View_quotes Perspective_quotes Order_quotes Development_quotes Current_quotes Conceptual_quotes Science_quotes
Henri_Poincaré
Scientific Language
“All the scientist creates in a fact is the language in which he enunciates it. If he predicts a fact, he will employ this language, and for all those who can speak and understand it, his prediction is free from ambiguity. Moreover, this prediction once made, it evidently does not depend upon him whether it is fulfilled or not.”
- Source: The Value of Science (1905), in The Foundations of Science: Science and Hypothesis, The Value of Science, Science and Method(1946), trans. by George Bruce Halsted, 332.
Herbert_Schildt
C and C++
“C gives the programmer what the programmer wants; few restrictions, few complaints... C++ maintains the original spirit of C, that the programmer not the language is in charge.”
- Source: Herbert Schildt. In the book entitled C++: The Complete Reference. Written by Herbert Schildt. Fourth edition. Published by McGraw-Hill in 2003. ISBN 978-0072226805. Page 8.
Melvin_Schwartz
Mathematics More than a Language
“Mathematics is much more than a language for dealing with the physical world. It is a source of models and abstractions which will enable us to obtain amazing new insights into the way in which nature operates. Indeed, the beauty and elegance of the physical laws themselves are only apparent when expressed in the appropriate mathematical framework.”
- Source: Melvin Schwartz, In Principles of Electrodynamics (1972, 1987), 105.
- Keywords: Mathematics_quotes Language_quotes Deal_quotes Physical_quotes World_quotes Source_quotes Model_quotes Abstraction_quotes Enable_quotes Obtain_quotes Amazement_quotes Insight_quotes Way_quotes Nature_quotes Operation_quotes Beauty_quotes Elegant_quotes Law_quotes Apparent_quotes Expression_quotes Appropriate_quotes Framework_quotes
Rebecca_Shafir
Misunderstanding
“Here’s an alarming fact: of approximately eight hundred thousand words in the English language, we use about eight hundred on a regular basis. Those eight hundred words have fourteen thousand meanings. By division there are about seventeen meanings per word. In other words, we have a one-in-seventeen chance of being understood as we intended. Perhaps you’ve heard of Chisholm’s Third Law — If you explain something so clearly that no one can misunderstand, someone will.”
- Source: From the book “The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction”, written by Rebecca Z. Shafir, published by Quest Books in 2003. ISBN: 978-0835608268,
- See Also:
Herbert_Simon
Computer Programming as Data Structures
“When we write a computer program in any language except machine language, we are really not writing down processes but data structures. These data structures are then interpreted or compiled into processes, that is, into machine-language instructions that the computer can understand and execute. Nevertheless, for most purposes, it is convenient for us simply to ignore the translation step and to treat the computer programs in higher-level languages as representing processes.”
- Source: Simon, H. A. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial (Third Edition). Computers & Mathematics with Applications (3rd ed., Vol. 33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780585360102. Retrieved 2018-08-23 from https://monoskop.org/images/9/9c/Simon_Herbert_A_The_Sciences_of_the_Artificial_3rd_ed.pdf. Chapter 4, page 93.
- Keywords: Writing_quotes Programming_quotes Computer_quotes Program_quotes Language_quotes Exception_quotes Machine_quotes Process_quotes Data_quotes Structure_quotes Interpretation_quotes Compilation_quotes Instruction_quotes Understanding_quotes Execution_quotes Purpose_quotes Convenience_quotes Simplicity_quotes Ignore_quotes Translation_quotes Step_quotes Treat_quotes High_quotes Level_quotes Representation_quotes
Alfred_Tarski
Language Universality
“This universality of everyday language... is the primary source of all semantic antinomies, like the antinomy of the liar... Every language which is universal... and for which the normal laws of logic hold, must be inconsistent.”
- Source: Alfred Tarski in his article ‘The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages’, written originally in Polish in 1933, translated to English in 1983 by J. H. Woodger and published within the book ‘Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics’ edited by J. Corcoran, page 164. Online at http://www.thatmarcusfamily.org/philosophy/Course_Websites/Readings/Tarski%20-%20The%20Concept%20of%20Truth%20in%20Formalized%20Languages.pdf.
Truth Doubtful
“The very possibility of a consistent use of the expression ‘true sentence’ which is in harmony with the laws of logic and the spirit of everyday language seems to be very questionable, and consequently the same doubt attaches to the possibility of constructing a correct definition of this expression.”
- Source: Alfred Tarski in his article ‘The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages’, written originally in Polish in 1933, translated to English in 1983 by J. H. Woodger and published within the book ‘Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics’ edited by J. Corcoran, page 165. Online at http://www.thatmarcusfamily.org/philosophy/Course_Websites/Readings/Tarski%20-%20The%20Concept%20of%20Truth%20in%20Formalized%20Languages.pdf.
- Keywords: Possibility_quotes Consistent_quotes Use_quotes Expression_quotes True_quotes Truth_quotes Harmony_quotes Law_quotes Logic_quotes Spirit_quotes Everyday_quotes Language_quotes Seem_quotes Questionable_quotes Doubt_quotes Attach_quotes Same_quotes Construct_quotes Correct_quotes Definition_quotes
Adequate Truth Definition
“Therefore we can say — considering the failure of previous attempts — that at present we can construct no correct and materially adequate definition of truth for the language under consideration.”
- Source: Alfred Tarski in his article ‘The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages’, written originally in Polish in 1933, translated to English in 1983 by J. H. Woodger and published within the book ‘Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics’ edited by J. Corcoran, page 246. Online at http://www.thatmarcusfamily.org/philosophy/Course_Websites/Readings/Tarski%20-%20The%20Concept%20of%20Truth%20in%20Formalized%20Languages.pdf.
Waldo_and_Boussard
LLM Performance
“GPTs [Generative Pre-trained Transformers] based on LLMs [Large Language Models] perform well on prompts that are more popular and have reached a consensus, yet they struggle with controversial topics or topics with limited data.”
- Source: From the journal article entitled “GPTs and Hallucination”, in Communications of the ACM, volume 68, number 1, 2025-01. DOI:10.1145/3703757.
Gerald_Weinberg
Management Deskilling
“Even though the nth-level manager may have originally been a programmer, which is rare enough, he has almost certainly lost any programming ability by the time he reaches these heights. Given the rapid change of programming techniques and hardware, the higher-level manager becomes obsolete even if he retains the skills he originally had and keeps them sharply honed, for those languages and those machines are no longer in use. In a small survey of working programmers, only 15 percent of the first-line managers were thought to be as skillful as the programmers themselves, and none of the higher-level managers.”
- Source: Chapter 6. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
- Keywords: Manager_quotes Level_quotes Programmer_quotes Deskill_quotes Skill_quotes Ability_quotes Technology_quotes Hardware_quotes Language_quotes Machine_quotes Survey_quotes Originally_quotes Rare_quotes Certainly_quotes Time_quotes Lost_quotes Reach_quotes Height_quotes Rapid_quotes Change_quotes Programming_quotes Technique_quotes Higher_quotes Obsolete_quotes Retain_quotes Keep_quotes Hone_quotes Longer_quotes Use_quotes Small_quotes Working_quotes Line_quotes First_quotes Thought_quotes
Eugene_Wigner
Miracle of Mathematics
“The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.”
- Source: Eugene Paul Wigner, In 'The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,' Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics (Feb 1960), 13, No. 1 (February 1960). Collected in Eugene Paul Wigner, A.S. Wightman (ed.), Jagdish Mehra (ed.), The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner (1955), Vol. 6, 535.
Ludwig_Wittgenstein
Philosophy Bewitchment
“Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.”
- Source: Ludwig Wittgenstein in “Philisophical Investigations”, published posthumously in 1958 by Macmillan Publishing Company. New York, NY. Part I, paragraph 109. Originally published in German posthumously in 1953.
- Keywords: Philosophy_quotes Battle_quotes Against_quotes Bewitchment_quotes Intelligence_quotes Means_quotes Language_quotes
Edward_Yourdon
Better Programming Languages
“Better coding techniques may do nothing more than help you arrive at a disaster sooner than before. Better programming languages, used without anything else, may be just what your programmers need to develop a brilliant solution to the wrong problem.”
- Source: Edward Yourdon in the book “Decline and Fall of the American Programmer”. Published in 1992 by Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-203670-3. Chapter 2, section 2.1, page 27.
Shoshana_Zuboff
Technology Leadership
“The questions that we face today are finally about leadership. Will there be leaders who are able to recognize the historical moment and the choices it presents? Will they find ways to create the organizational conditions in which new visions, new concepts, and a new language of workplace relations can emerge? Will they be able to create organizational innovations that can exploit the unique capacities of the new technology and thus mobilize their organization's productive potential to meet the heightened rigors of global competition? Will there be leaders who understand the crucial role that human beings from each organizational stratum can play in adding value to the production of goods and services? If not, we will be stranded in a new world with old solutions. We will suffer through the unintended consequences of change, because we have failed to understand this technology and how it differs from what came before.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 12. ISBN:0465032125.
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