Re: virus: Re: Social Metaphysics

Paul Prestopnik (pjp66259@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu)
Fri, 26 Sep 1997 13:41:27 -0400


> From: David McFadzean <david@lucifer.com>
> To: virus@lucifer.com
> Subject: RE: virus: Re: Social Metaphysics
> Date: Friday, September 26, 1997 11:04 AM
>
> How many words have a single meaning? I would guess none.
how about defenestration? or liter?

> I think people are a lot more adaptable then you give them
> credit for.
but I am not disagreeing with your basic premise. Natural language is an
extremely complex problem, and it is amazing how well people are able to
comprehend and disambiguate language. But in establishing a scientific
language it is important to try and limit ambiguities as much is possible.
If we want to be able to discuss memes clearly it would certainly help for
us to do the same, especially since many of these topics can easily become
complicated, and a clear and distinct vocabulary could certainly help to
clear up some misunderstandings.