From lee@piclab.com Thu Jan 24 16:14:40 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: lee@piclab.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_1_3); 25 Jan 2002 00:14:39 -0000 Received: (qmail 5002 invoked from network); 25 Jan 2002 00:09:53 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.171) by m3.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 25 Jan 2002 00:09:53 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO piclab.com) (216.121.191.70) by mta3.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 25 Jan 2002 00:09:53 -0000 Received: from localhost (lcrocker@localhost) by piclab.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA17965; Thu, 24 Jan 2002 16:09:38 -0800 X-Authentication-Warning: piclab.com: lcrocker owned process doing -bs Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 16:09:36 -0800 (PST) X-Sender: lcrocker@piclab.com To: Invent Yourself Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: lojban as a programming language [was Re: [lojban] Lojban for lay programmers] In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: Lee Daniel Crocker X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=1436760 X-Yahoo-Profile: bowtie95841 > > Sure, one could probably stretch lojban into "artistic" uses, but > > doing so would produce bad art and risk weakening the language for > > its designed use: clarity. > > Response 1: But is it Art? So you think art opposes clarity. But one > doesn't have to consider art that way. Mathematicians & theoretical > scientists pursue their craft for aesthetic reasons. They could be > considered artists. There, the passion and emotion is created by clarity > and absoluteness, not opposed to it. Well, there probably are /new/ forms of art that Lojban would be suited for; sure, I can appreciate the esthetic beauty of a mathematical expression. What I'm saying is that many of our /existing/ forms of art do indeed depend upon language features that Lojban utterly lacks, and trying to use Lojban for those would be as pointless as using a hammer and chisel to write poetry or sculpting clay with a fountain pen. Some of the /existing/ things people do with language Lojban is very well suited for already: specs, contracts, etc. Selling it for those uses is more likely to lead to satisfied customers, which will then create a large enough user base that those new art forms can be discovered and used. But trying to start off by shoehorning traditional poetry into the language doesn't seem smart. -- Lee Daniel Crocker "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC