Re: [lojban] Re-evaluation + an idea - Was: A parable

[Invent Yourself <xod@sixgirls.org>]

Now here's a man that speaks the language I want to hear!



On Sat, 25 Aug 2001, Jim Peters wrote:


> Maybe I should come as clean as I can.  I threw the spanner in
> regarding the defined meanings of Lojban words being non-abstract, as
> a Sapir-Whorf thing.



What does this mean?


> So I'm like a wanderer coming back with strange stories, lots of bits
> and bobs of experiences and a few skills, but not much in the way of
> the kind of systematic information that might be required to help
> build or improve a language.



No, I think it's time for a few strange tales from foreign places,
actually.



> If the approach so far with Lojban has been to base everything on a
> physical-scientific world-view, then I'm in absolutely no position to
> argue with that.  In any case, it does have the advantage that all
> Westerners will understand it, and science has been spreading pretty
> well to other places.  Maybe this could be seen as the chosen "tone"
> of the language.



Do you think Lojban has that tone?

What's the best world-view you've seen for building rocketships? How about
for keeping a marriage together?



> I don't know how big a task this might be - how many phrases are
> required to completely define all the words and constructions to the
> depth that you'd all like them to be defined.  Maybe it's an awful
> lot, so maybe this isn't actually feasible in practice.



Wonderful idea! We have random sentence software.


>
> [*1: Justification: Working with healing, I know that there are many
> systems to help understand and resolve illness, and all of the ones I
> know do indeed work, in their own ways.  Although there are some
> common themes that occur, in several cases one world-view will say
> completely the opposite of another.  So you can't make a bigger better
> world-view that actually works by merging them.  This doesn't make any
> sense, but this is my experience.



This is very discordian. But what if you try? Cultures don't disagree on
the brokenness of a bone. So there are some illnesses whose state has
nothing to do with the world-view. Perhaps you'd like to qualify that
statement of extreme relativity?



-----
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