Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2014 06:54:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Andrew Browne <dersaidin@gmail.com>
To: lojban@googlegroups.com
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Subject: [lojban] What are the official goals of lojban?
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What are the official goals of lojban?


It is important to have an understanding of the goals for ongoing work=20
(finishing BPFK sections, etc.), otherwise we will end up with stuff that=
=20
is inconsistent.
I think many people involved have an implicit understanding of the goals,=
=20
due to having been around much longer, and/or closely involved in BPFK.

I am after an official clear statement of goals for lojban (or reference to=
=20
one), for the benefit of those of us who have not been around for so long=
=20
(and clarification for everyone else).


The best source I can find is the CLL:
https://dag.github.io/cll/1/1/

The goals for the language were first described in the open literature in=
=20
> the article =E2=80=9CLoglan=E2=80=9D, published in Scientific American, J=
une, 1960.

=20

> The following are the main features of Lojban:
> Lojban is designed to be used by people in communication with each other,=
=20
> and possibly in the future with computers.
> Lojban is designed to be neutral between cultures.
> Lojban grammar is based on the principles of predicate logic.
> Lojban has an unambiguous yet flexible grammar.
> Lojban has phonetic spelling, and unambiguously resolves its sounds into=
=20
> words.
> Lojban is simple compared to natural languages; it is easy to learn.
> Lojban=E2=80=99s 1300 root words can be easily combined to form a vocabul=
ary of=20
> millions of words.
> Lojban is regular; the rules of the language are without exceptions.
> Lojban attempts to remove restrictions on creative and clear thought and=
=20
> communication.
> Lojban has a variety of uses, ranging from the creative to the scientific=
,=20
> from the theoretical to the practical.
> Lojban has been demonstrated in translation and in original works of pros=
e=20
> and poetry.


I also found some other materials with similar lists of features, and a=20
similar reference to the goals of TLI Loglan:
http://mw.lojban.org/index.php?title=3DLojban_Introductory_Brochure
http://mw.lojban.org/index.php?title=3Dralju_papri
http://mw.lojban.org/index.php?title=3DFrom_Wikibooks:_Lojban/Introduction_=
to_Lojban#Lojban


There has also been some discussion of goals on this list:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/lojban/goals/lojban/jDRfYun5Rs4/=
o8LqJicWwyUJ


Several of these sources have referenced the goals of TLI Loglan.
So what are the goals of TLI Loglan?

Note; I'm quoting the bits I think are possibly relevant to my question of=
=20
goals, trying to provide a helpful summary.
Please read more of these documents to get more context or to add anything=
=20
else I missed.


First, lets look in that 1960 Scientific American Article mentioned earlier=
:
http://www.lojban.org/tiki/Scientific+American+article
http://members.home.nl/w.dijkhuis/loglan_jcb/Brown_JC_loglan.html
http://www.dersaidin.net/lojban/reference/LoglanScientificAmerican1960/=20
 (mirror)

It was to supply an instrument for experimental investigation of the=20
> Leibniz-Whorf hypothesis that we undertook our work on Loglan in 1955.
> Loglan was to be an artificial language, but one especially designed to=
=20
> test the thesis that the structure of language determines the forms of=20
> thought.
> It was to have a small, easily learned vocabulary derived from the word=
=20
> stock of as many of the major natural languages as proved feasible (thoug=
h=20
> it was not intended to be an auxiliary international language).
> Its rules of grammar and syntax were to be as few and regular as possible=
.
> It was to utilize a short list of speech sounds (phonemes) common to the=
=20
> natural languages [see table on opposite page], and it was to be=20
> phonetically spelled.
>
=20

> But most important, Loglan was to incorporate as many of the notational=
=20
> devices of modern logic and mathematics as could be adapted to its use.=
=20


The other good source I found on TLI Loglan is this book, Loglan1 (which=20
appears to me to be the TLI Loglan equivalent of CLL):
https://ia700400.us.archive.org/11/items/Loglan1/Loglan1.pdf
http://www.dersaidin.net/lojban/reference/Loglan1.pdf    (mirror)

In chapter 1, there are sections 1 through 9 that cover a different goal=20
(or maybe feature/viewpoint).

*1.1 The Scientific Strategy*

> Loglan is a language which was originally devised to test the Sapir-Whorf=
=20
> hypothesis
> that the structure of language determines the boundaries of human thought=
.


The most promising way to create such a difference, it seemed to me, was to=
=20
> exaggerate some=20
> natural function of human language, that is, to increase the functional=
=20
> adequacy of some complex=20
> of linguistic structures in a way that would have a strong independent=20
> likelihood of enhancing=20
> the measurable performance of its learners on some specified set of tasks=
.=20
> Besides, in its original=20
> formulation the Whorf hypothesis is a negative one: language limits=20
> thought. One way of=20
> disclosing such phenomena is to take the suspected limits off, more=20
> precisely, to push them=20
> outward in some direction in which removing limits would have predictable=
=20
> effects. So it was=20
> settled. The diminutive language should also be a functionally extreme on=
e=20
> in some known or=20
> presumable way: an extremely poetic one, say, or an extremely efficient=
=20
> one, or extremely=20
> logical.


*1.2 Loglan as a Logical Language*

> But the claim invested in this metaphor is in fact narrower than the wide=
=20
> word 'logical' suggests. Loglan is logical only in the sense of purportin=
g=20
> to facilitate certain=20
> limited kinds of thought: namely those kinds which proceed by the=20
> transformation of sentences=20
> into other sentences in such a way that if the first are true so also are=
=20
> the second. We might
> also expect it to minimize, or help prevent, the errors that are usually=
=20
> made in performing such=20
> deductive operations. But these are fairly modest senses of the word=20
> 'logical'. We might have=20
> meant to convey by it the much stronger claim that Loglan is a deductive=
=20
> system, in the sense=20
> that geometry and formal logic are. To support such a claim we would have=
=20
> had to show that=20
> Loglan had a set of elementary notions and elementary operations from=20
> which all its complex=20
> notions and complex operations had been rigorously derived. But we do not=
=20
> make this claim.


*1.3 Loglan as a Laboratory Instrument*

> Apart from the thought-facilitating functions of Loglan, the language is=
=20
> also meant to be a=20
> manageable laboratory instrument: teachable, measurable, controllable; it=
s=20
> structure transparently=20
> observable both at the moment of introduction into any experiment and in=
=20
> continuous change


But Loglan does seem to be easily learned,11 and on every formal parameter=
=20
> it is agreeably small.
> The number of its grammar rules is an order of magnitude less than has=20
> come to be expected of natural grammars from recent work.


While the size of a language is not the only factor that determines the=20
> speed with which it is learned, it is=20
> undoubtedly an important one; and all my early teaching trials have=20
> suggested that Loglan is indeed very rapidly learned.


Another feature of the language that reflects its intended use as a=20
> laboratory instrument is its cultural neutrality.


*1.4 Loglan in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory*

> Loglan grammar is not only known but already written in a machine-parsabl=
e=20
> code. So it is itself the beginning of an AI program.


Besides, if the partial grammars now in hand are any indication,=20
> when a complete grammar of a natural human language is finally written, i=
t=20
> will be far too large=20
> for programmatic manipulation in the AI lab. Natural languages are very=
=20
> large affairs.


Thus, more than anything else it is the small size, formal completeness and=
=20
> machine parsability=20
> of Loglan grammar that seem to suit it for manipulation in the artificial=
=20
> intelligence laboratory.=20


*1.5 Loglan at the Machine-Man interface*

> ...to make the machine-man interface truly comfortable for humans and yet=
=20
> continue to be instructive
> for machines, we need a language in which the requirements of both humans=
=20
> and machines are met.


Loglan may be such a language. We have seen that it is utterly unequivocal=
=20
> grammatically. One=20
> consequence is that we humans become aware of what we are actually saying=
=20
> when we talk=20
> Loglan. So a Loglan-speaking human is much less likely to say one thing=
=20
> while meaning another,=20
> thus misinforming his or her machine. Also, as we shall see in the next=
=20
> chapter, Loglan words=20
> resolve uniquely from the speech-stream; no 'I scream'/'Ice cream'=20
> phenomena exist in it. So even=20
> spoken instructions are unequivocal in Loglan. This is true of no other=
=20
> language. Being able to=20
> speak freely composed instructions spontaneously would add immeasurably t=
o=20
> the speed and=20
> comfort of the interaction for humans, and yet, because it's Loglan, its=
=20
> being spoken would not=20
> diminish its precision for machines.=20


What do we human partners in this high-powered interaction require? That we=
=20
> be permitted to=20
> express our thoughts fully, freely and spontaneously without the risk of=
=20
> seriously misinforming=20
> our machines. That we be able to understand most of the machine's=20
> word-choices and all its=20
> utterance-forms immediately, and be able to clarify by interrogation=20
> whatever part of the=20
> computer's responses to us we do not immediately understand.


*1.6 Loglan as a Translation Medium*

> Consider the problem. An original document, say a French article on=20
> galactic evolution, is to be=20
> translated into a dozen other languages, from Chinese to Swahili. As this=
=20
> project would be=20
> implemented now, it would turn into a dozen separate translation tasks,=
=20
> each performed by its=20
> own bilingual expert, or team of experts, if as many as a dozen could be=
=20
> found. But with Loglan=20
> as the translation medium, the project would be transformed into=20
> essentially one task: translation=20
> of the French document into Loglan. Admittedly this would require human=
=20
> effort aided by=20
> whatever computer algorithms the agency had developed for this purpose.=
=20
> But the resulting=20
> Loglan document could then be more or less instantly retranslated into=20
> almost any number of=20
> other natural tongues, and this second step could in principle be=20
> performed, and so eventually in=20
> practice, by machines.=20


*1.7 Loglan in Information Storage and Retrieval*

> Another not quite so incidental by-product of using Loglan as a=20
> translation medium would be=20
> that the Loglan texts so created would be well-adapted for the machine=20
> storage and retrieval of=20
> the information they contained. For one of the same reasons that Loglan I=
s=20
> suitable at the=20
> interface, namely that knowledge stored in the predicate notation is=20
> apparently usable by both=20
> machines and humans, texts translated into Loglan and stored on some=20
> electronic medium could=20
> later be searched and even studied by machines. The studying Machines=20
> would be computers=20
> "trained", i.e., programmed in the AI style, in the human art of scholarl=
y=20
> reading. Although key=20
> words and Phrases can be searched for now, and in texts written in any=20
> language, natural=20
> language texts cannot yet be understood by computers in this way.=20
> Once again Loglan yields a special benefit because its grammar is=20
> transparent and its meanings=20
> clear.


*1.8 Loglan as a Planetary Second Language*

> Although Loglan was not designed for this bright future, it may=20
> nevertheless have attributes that fit it for the job.


*1.9 Loglan as a Linguistic Toy*

> This is the perspective from which Loglan is seen by many individuals, no=
t=20
> as a=20
> research tool, not as contribution to the machine-man interface, not as a=
=20
> candidate for the=20
> international auxiliary, but as a delightful and very human toy.


So out of all this, what are officially the goals of lojban?

Thanks

--=20
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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div><br></div><div>What are the official goals of lojban?=
</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>It is important to have an underst=
anding of the goals for ongoing work (finishing BPFK sections, etc.), other=
wise we will end up with stuff that is inconsistent.</div><div>I think many=
 people involved have an implicit understanding of the goals, due to having=
 been around much longer, and/or closely involved in BPFK.</div><div><br></=
div><div>I am after an official clear statement of goals for lojban (or ref=
erence to one), for the benefit of those of us who have not been around for=
 so long (and clarification for everyone else).</div><div><br></div><div><b=
r></div><div><br></div><div>The best source I can find is the CLL:</div><di=
v>https://dag.github.io/cll/1/1/</div><div><br></div><blockquote class=3D"g=
mail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; bor=
der-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left:=
 1ex;">The goals for the language were first described in the open literatu=
re in the article =E2=80=9CLoglan=E2=80=9D, published in Scientific America=
n, June, 1960.</blockquote><div>&nbsp;</div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quot=
e" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-=
color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">Th=
e following are the main features of Lojban:<br>Lojban is designed to be us=
ed by people in communication with each other, and possibly in the future w=
ith computers.<br>Lojban is designed to be neutral between cultures.<br>Loj=
ban grammar is based on the principles of predicate logic.<br>Lojban has an=
 unambiguous yet flexible grammar.<br>Lojban has phonetic spelling, and una=
mbiguously resolves its sounds into words.<br>Lojban is simple compared to =
natural languages; it is easy to learn.<br>Lojban=E2=80=99s 1300 root words=
 can be easily combined to form a vocabulary of millions of words.<br>Lojba=
n is regular; the rules of the language are without exceptions.<br>Lojban a=
ttempts to remove restrictions on creative and clear thought and communicat=
ion.<br>Lojban has a variety of uses, ranging from the creative to the scie=
ntific, from the theoretical to the practical.<br>Lojban has been demonstra=
ted in translation and in original works of prose and poetry.</blockquote><=
div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I also found some other ma=
terials with similar lists of features, and a similar reference to the goal=
s of TLI Loglan:</div><div>http://mw.lojban.org/index.php?title=3DLojban_In=
troductory_Brochure</div><div>http://mw.lojban.org/index.php?title=3Dralju_=
papri</div><div>http://mw.lojban.org/index.php?title=3DFrom_Wikibooks:_Lojb=
an/Introduction_to_Lojban#Lojban</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Th=
ere has also been some discussion of goals on this list:</div><div>https://=
groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/lojban/goals/lojban/jDRfYun5Rs4/o8LqJicW=
wyUJ</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>=
<br></div><div><br></div><div>Several of these sources have referenced the =
goals of TLI Loglan.</div><div>So what are the goals of TLI Loglan?</div><d=
iv><br></div><div>Note; I'm quoting the bits I think are possibly relevant =
to my question of goals, trying to provide a helpful summary.</div><div>Ple=
ase read more of these documents to get more context or to add anything els=
e I missed.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>First, l=
ets look in that 1960 Scientific American Article mentioned earlier:</div><=
div>http://www.lojban.org/tiki/Scientific+American+article</div><div>http:/=
/members.home.nl/w.dijkhuis/loglan_jcb/Brown_JC_loglan.html</div><div>http:=
//www.dersaidin.net/lojban/reference/LoglanScientificAmerican1960/ &nbsp;(m=
irror)</div><div><br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margi=
n: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 2=
04, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">It was to supply an=
 instrument for experimental investigation of the Leibniz-Whorf hypothesis =
that we undertook our work on Loglan in 1955.<br>Loglan was to be an artifi=
cial language, but one especially designed to test the thesis that the stru=
cture of language determines the forms of thought.<br>It was to have a smal=
l, easily learned vocabulary derived from the word stock of as many of the =
major natural languages as proved feasible (though it was not intended to b=
e an auxiliary international language).<br>Its rules of grammar and syntax =
were to be as few and regular as possible.<br>It was to utilize a short lis=
t of speech sounds (phonemes) common to the natural languages [see table on=
 opposite page], and it was to be phonetically spelled.<br></blockquote><di=
v>&nbsp;</div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0p=
x 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); bor=
der-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">But most important, Loglan was t=
o incorporate as many of the notational devices of modern logic and mathema=
tics as could be adapted to its use.&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br></div><div>=
<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The other good source I found =
on TLI Loglan is this book, Loglan1 (which appears to me to be the TLI Logl=
an equivalent of CLL):</div><div>https://ia700400.us.archive.org/11/items/L=
oglan1/Loglan1.pdf</div><div>http://www.dersaidin.net/lojban/reference/Logl=
an1.pdf &nbsp; &nbsp;(mirror)</div><div><br></div><div>In chapter 1, there =
are sections 1 through 9 that cover a different goal (or maybe feature/view=
point).</div><div><br></div><div><b>1.1 The Scientific Strategy</b></div><b=
lockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-=
left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: =
solid; padding-left: 1ex;">Loglan is a language which was originally devise=
d to test the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis<br>that the structure of language dete=
rmines the boundaries of human thought.</blockquote><div><br></div><blockqu=
ote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-w=
idth: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid;=
 padding-left: 1ex;">The most promising way to create such a difference, it=
 seemed to me, was to exaggerate some&nbsp;<br>natural function of human la=
nguage, that is, to increase the functional adequacy of some complex&nbsp;<=
br>of linguistic structures in a way that would have a strong independent l=
ikelihood of enhancing&nbsp;<br>the measurable performance of its learners =
on some specified set of tasks. Besides, in its original&nbsp;<br>formulati=
on the Whorf hypothesis is a negative one: language limits thought. One way=
 of&nbsp;<br>disclosing such phenomena is to take the suspected limits off,=
 more precisely, to push them&nbsp;<br>outward in some direction in which r=
emoving limits would have predictable effects. So it was&nbsp;<br>settled. =
The diminutive language should also be a functionally extreme one in some k=
nown or&nbsp;<br>presumable way: an extremely poetic one, say, or an extrem=
ely efficient one, or extremely&nbsp;<br>logical.</blockquote><div><br></di=
v><div><b>1.2 Loglan as a Logical Language</b></div><blockquote class=3D"gm=
ail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; bord=
er-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: =
1ex;">But the claim invested in this metaphor is in fact narrower than the =
wide&nbsp;<br>word 'logical' suggests. Loglan is logical only in the sense =
of purporting to facilitate certain&nbsp;<br>limited kinds of thought: name=
ly those kinds which proceed by the transformation of sentences&nbsp;<br>in=
to other sentences in such a way that if the first are true so also are the=
 second. We might<br>also expect it to minimize, or help prevent, the error=
s that are usually made in performing such&nbsp;<br>deductive operations. B=
ut these are fairly modest senses of the word 'logical'. We might have&nbsp=
;<br>meant to convey by it the much stronger claim that Loglan is a deducti=
ve system, in the sense&nbsp;<br>that geometry and formal logic are. To sup=
port such a claim we would have had to show that&nbsp;<br>Loglan had a set =
of elementary notions and elementary operations from which all its complex&=
nbsp;<br>notions and complex operations had been rigorously derived. But we=
 do not make this claim.</blockquote><div><br></div><div><b>1.3 Loglan as a=
 Laboratory Instrument</b></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"=
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(2=
04, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">Apart from the=
 thought-facilitating functions of Loglan, the language is also meant to be=
 a&nbsp;<br>manageable laboratory instrument: teachable, measurable, contro=
llable; its structure transparently&nbsp;<br>observable both at the moment =
of introduction into any experiment and in continuous change</blockquote><d=
iv><br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px=
 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); bord=
er-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">But Loglan does seem to be easily=
 learned,11 and on every formal parameter it is agreeably small.<br>The num=
ber of its grammar rules is an order of magnitude less than has come to be =
expected of natural grammars from recent work.</blockquote><div><br></div><=
blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border=
-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style:=
 solid; padding-left: 1ex;">While the size of a language is not the only fa=
ctor that determines the speed with which it is learned, it is&nbsp;<br>und=
oubtedly an important one; and all my early teaching trials have suggested =
that Loglan is indeed very rapidly learned.</blockquote><div><br></div><blo=
ckquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-le=
ft-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: so=
lid; padding-left: 1ex;">Another feature of the language that reflects its =
intended use as a laboratory instrument is its cultural neutrality.</blockq=
uote><div><br></div><div><b>1.4 Loglan in the Artificial Intelligence Labor=
atory</b></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0=
px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); bo=
rder-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">Loglan grammar is not only know=
n but already written in a machine-parsable code. So it is itself the begin=
ning of an AI program.</blockquote><div><br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmai=
l_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border=
-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1e=
x;">Besides, if the partial grammars now in hand are any indication,&nbsp;<=
br>when a complete grammar of a natural human language is finally written, =
it will be far too large&nbsp;<br>for programmatic manipulation in the AI l=
ab. Natural languages are very large affairs.</blockquote><div><br></div><b=
lockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-=
left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: =
solid; padding-left: 1ex;">Thus, more than anything else it is the small si=
ze, formal completeness and machine parsability&nbsp;<br>of Loglan grammar =
that seem to suit it for manipulation in the artificial intelligence labora=
tory.&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br></div><div><b>1.5 Loglan at the Machine-Ma=
n interface</b></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px=
 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 20=
4); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">...to make the machine-ma=
n interface truly comfortable for humans and yet continue to be instructive=
<br>for machines, we need a language in which the requirements of both huma=
ns and machines are met.</blockquote><div><br></div><blockquote class=3D"gm=
ail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; bord=
er-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: =
1ex;">Loglan may be such a language. We have seen that it is utterly unequi=
vocal grammatically. One&nbsp;<br>consequence is that we humans become awar=
e of what we are actually saying when we talk&nbsp;<br>Loglan. So a Loglan-=
speaking human is much less likely to say one thing while meaning another,&=
nbsp;<br>thus misinforming his or her machine. Also, as we shall see in the=
 next chapter, Loglan words&nbsp;<br>resolve uniquely from the speech-strea=
m; no 'I scream'/'Ice cream' phenomena exist in it. So even&nbsp;<br>spoken=
 instructions are unequivocal in Loglan. This is true of no other language.=
 Being able to&nbsp;<br>speak freely composed instructions spontaneously wo=
uld add immeasurably to the speed and&nbsp;<br>comfort of the interaction f=
or humans, and yet, because it's Loglan, its being spoken would not&nbsp;<b=
r>diminish its precision for machines.&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br></div><bl=
ockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-l=
eft-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: s=
olid; padding-left: 1ex;">What do we human partners in this high-powered in=
teraction require? That we be permitted to&nbsp;<br>express our thoughts fu=
lly, freely and spontaneously without the risk of seriously misinforming&nb=
sp;<br>our machines. That we be able to understand most of the machine's wo=
rd-choices and all its&nbsp;<br>utterance-forms immediately, and be able to=
 clarify by interrogation whatever part of the&nbsp;<br>computer's response=
s to us we do not immediately understand.</blockquote><div><br></div><div><=
b>1.6 Loglan as a Translation Medium</b></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_qu=
ote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-lef=
t-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex;">=
Consider the problem. An original document, say a French article on galacti=
c evolution, is to be&nbsp;<br>translated into a dozen other languages, fro=
m Chinese to Swahili. As this project would be&nbsp;<br>implemented now, it=
 would turn into a dozen separate translation tasks, each performed by its&=
nbsp;<br>own bilingual expert, or team of experts, if as many as a dozen co=
uld be found. But with Loglan&nbsp;<br>as the translation medium, the proje=
ct would be transformed into essentially one task: translation&nbsp;<br>of =
the French document into Loglan. Admittedly this would require human effort=
 aided by&nbsp;<br>whatever computer algorithms the agency had developed fo=
r this purpose. But the resulting&nbsp;<br>Loglan document could then be mo=
re or less instantly retranslated into almost any number of&nbsp;<br>other =
natural tongues, and this second step could in principle be performed, and =
so eventually in&nbsp;<br>practice, by machines.&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br=
></div><div><b>1.7 Loglan in Information Storage and Retrieval</b></div><bl=
ockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-l=
eft-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: s=
olid; padding-left: 1ex;">Another not quite so incidental by-product of usi=
ng Loglan as a translation medium would be&nbsp;<br>that the Loglan texts s=
o created would be well-adapted for the machine storage and retrieval of&nb=
sp;<br>the information they contained. For one of the same reasons that Log=
lan Is suitable at the&nbsp;<br>interface, namely that knowledge stored in =
the predicate notation is apparently usable by both&nbsp;<br>machines and h=
umans, texts translated into Loglan and stored on some electronic medium co=
uld&nbsp;<br>later be searched and even studied by machines. The studying M=
achines would be computers&nbsp;<br>"trained", i.e., programmed in the AI s=
tyle, in the human art of scholarly reading. Although key&nbsp;<br>words an=
d Phrases can be searched for now, and in texts written in any language, na=
tural&nbsp;<br>language texts cannot yet be understood by computers in this=
 way.&nbsp;<br>Once again Loglan yields a special benefit because its gramm=
ar is transparent and its meanings&nbsp;<br>clear.</blockquote><div><br></d=
iv><div><b>1.8 Loglan as a Planetary Second Language</b></div><blockquote c=
lass=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width:=
 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padd=
ing-left: 1ex;">Although Loglan was not designed for this bright future, it=
 may nevertheless have attributes that fit it for the job.</blockquote><div=
><br></div><div><b>1.9 Loglan as a Linguistic Toy</b></div><blockquote clas=
s=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1p=
x; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding=
-left: 1ex;">This is the perspective from which Loglan is seen by many indi=
viduals, not as a&nbsp;<br>research tool, not as contribution to the machin=
e-man interface, not as a candidate for the&nbsp;<br>international auxiliar=
y, but as a delightful and very human toy.</blockquote><div><br></div><div>=
<br></div><div><br></div><div>So out of all this, what are officially the g=
oals of lojban?</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks</div></div>

<p></p>

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