Machine Translation?

Check out this interesting answer on Yedda

Did anyone studied in Pragmatics pronouns by using ...

What people expect from a person explaining something and how a machine interprets it are two different topics, but are confused with being the same thing. Let me explain. You take it for granted when you converse with someone that in the course of the conversation, you are nodding, gently saying, "Huh?", and so forth. As such, you are communicating to the speaker that you understand or that you need clarification. Machines never get any indication from any additional input that their "output" requires clarification. So they can only operate on static rules.

The interplay between speaker and listener cannot be overlooked or taken for granted. Consider the perceptions you have when you use a search engine. You "believe" that a certain search engine is superior to another. It is only because you know how to make your clarifications quickly through your mouse clicks. Keep in mind that most search engines have some heueristic logic that begins to "learn" from the responses of a searcher. You train your mind to match the responses to your clarifications of that search engine (or speaker) and your perception is that you "understand" the speaker or the search engine "works better" than another one.

Now, as to the shift in pronoun usage, it's final meaning is dependent on your clarification dialog with the speaker and your observation of whether other listeners require clarification. If everyone in the room seems satisfied with a shift in pronoun usage, you may conclude (wrongly) that you no longer need clarification. The speaker moves on, and you are now out of alignment in your perceived understanding. To expect a machine to work all this out on its own, no matter how much brute force you bring to bear on the problem is utter folly.

To prove this, consider performing a machine translation from an ancient religious text to modern English. Some scholars spend their entire lives trying to interpret nuances of meaning from what someone wrote down five thousand years ago on a cuneiform tablet or a hieroglyphic inscription. What was the author trying to say? Since you can't ask any clarifying questions or gestures, your guess is as good as any machine's. 

Topics:  computational linguistics, computational intelligence, semantics and pragmatics

Answered by FindItByMe on June 17, 2009

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See me on WordPress

Just a note to all my vast array of friends that I have a blog on WordPress for FindItByMe. If I don't cover any comments here or on the my regular blog, you will find it at WordPress.

What am I doing now?

1. 404 redirection
2. ftp for my camera
3. news feeds for my site
4. weather feed(s) for my site
5. making my site search engine friendly
6. making my site a search provider
7. creating a brochure for handouts
8. getting the rest of the photography done for Fallbrook (Randy Hetrick)
9. moving my servers to a data center
10. blogging without babbling

Order in the SQL Court

It's almost 4:00 a.m. on March 22nd, 2009, and it's almost quiting time. I have really outdone myself today. Please see my FindItByMe BLOG later to see how the web site is developing. I found out that you can't use an order by clause in a multi-statement table valued function in SQL 2008. But...there is a way around it. You can use an order by clause in the select statement of an inline table valued function IF you use a TOP clause on the select. Who knows why, but it works.

Anyway, it all has to do with a self-referential search system I'm developing. So the system will drill down properly no matter what the context of the initial search is. And it is all multi-lingual. Although a word can have multiple synonyms in any language, I have a weighting system that assigns the most frequently used synonym more weight. Then the system always chooses the one synonym in the target language with the highest weight value. I still have to do the clarifier engine to allow multiple choices to synonyms, but this will be done on freetext search only for now.

Ok...time to sleep. Later!

Never do this at home

People who think business owners (legitimate ones at least) are like the TV commercials where those idiots sip mint julips by the pool while tens of thousands of dollars gets deposited in their bank accounts deserve what they get when they send for those kits. My favorite one is where this man in his sixties gives presents and a new car to his little 17 year old honey.

Here is what really happens: (1) everyone says starting a business is smart (and call you an idiot behind your back) (2) never take you seriously (and call you an idiot behind your back) (3) desert you when you need them most (and call you an idiot behind your back) (4) pretend you don't exist (and call you an idiot behind your back) (5) call you a hero when you finally succeed (and swear they never called you an idiot behind your back).

I think anyone who starts a business really has a screw loose in their heads somewhere. You really do give up everything to make a go of it. Sometimes years of debt and deprivation. My problem is I don't care what it takes. All your life you know you will end up here, and postponing it does no good.

You know what really helps? Learning the stories in the Bible. I don't mean to memorize all the King James' English and run around spouting passages. That is an excellent way to trivialize its content and convince some poor soul you really know what you are talking about when you are more clueless than a lump of clay. The stories in the Bible have another component, and that is how most of the characters overcame almost supernatural challenges. Go for broke and don't look back. That is what I see. And God telling them, "Don't worry, just do it. I've got your back."

Did Moses start to think that maybe running away from the Egyptians was "too risky" and maybe it would be ok after all to be slaves? Nope. Go for broke.

Did David start to think that maybe the Israelites should just let Goliath have his way and hope and pray he and the Philistines "might go away"? Nope. Go for broke.

Did Jesus enter the temple and tell the money changers he hoped they would be nice to people and not rip them off? Nope. Go for broke.

These people did not make their point(s) by playing it safe. They made their point by putting their lives on the line. I never have heard this in any church I've been to. I hear a lot about glory and mercy and forgiveness and slobering sentimentality. But I never hear about how the central characters have stainless steel in their souls and courage beyond compare.

Anybody know of a church or religion where they encourage you to have that kind of rock solid constitution? And you are responsible for your own actions? And there is no blame but on yourself when something happens you don't like? And that teaches that if you are responsible that means you have the power? I hope somebody will read this message in a bottle and throw a nice message back in there.

Good night for now...

What a difference a brain makes

I'm finally tired enough to go to sleep. I did not get the wrapper for TatukGIS to work yet, I think it's a reflection problem in the GIZMOX asp wrapper that I can't crack yet. Maybe tomorrow. I got simpler controls to work, but not the viewer control. Oh well...

Working on traversing the ontology today. The trick is to make every location adhere to the most granular terms. Then you can start at the top of the graph and count hits as you refine the search. Works like Yahoo did in the beginning. Still thinking about how to display the graph traversal, but I think I know what to do.

Microsoft now has this contract extension which is a way to define boundary conditions for all logic extent in a program. It is a step in the right direction, but I think the contract layer should be part of any .NET language at its lowest levels.

Still getting hits from all over the world. Nobody every writes to me from the web site. It could have something to do with the fact there is no mailto link. That will go in on the next release. Also found out the Fallbrook press release will not go in until next week. As Mike Kraemer would say, you gotta love it when a plan falls together.

And tomorrow plans on Mr. X's project will be discussed...

Later...

Who's Your Daddy?

I think that is a fair question to ask. But I think we should go back a few generations and think about what our ancestors went through.

First you have to get into the mind-set. Pretend that your grandparents were not the stiff-necked sepia colored wooden caricatures that they appear to be in those old photographs. In fact, put yourself in their place right now. I'll help you with an example.

You've just paid a guide $75 to take you from New Orleans to California. It is the early 1800's and you've just surrendered most of your life savings to make this trip. You hope you can get a homestead and make a new life for yourself and your family. The journey is dangerous in every sense of the word. You face the elements, attacks from hostiles (the people whose land you trespass on who got here first thousands of years ago), and mechanical failure (broken wagon wheels). There is no health insurance, no cell phones, no rest stops, no iPods, no radio, no TV, no nothing except your own determination and vision for a better future. Your wife can handle a rifle as well as you do (she can bring down an elk or a rabbit since your life depends on it). She works as hard as you do in her tasks. The kids help too since they have to. Everyone's on the same team. You sing songs on the trail, read the Bible at night by the camp fire, and keep your minds on the future. Some days there is no game, or no water. You face starvation or dying of thirst. A member of your family gets sick and there is no doctor for a thousand miles. Still you continue on and never stop.

Where has this determination and courage gone? When I think about what the family I described went through, does it really mean anything that I had to wait at a red light for one more minute? Does it really do any good to get angry about that? What if I HAD to shoot some game since my family is starving and I just missed the shot? And now I have to creep up on my dinner for another two miles since they ran from the gunshot? And if I get the game, I have to dress it and carry it back about five miles over difficult terrain so my family can eat. So does it really matter now that there are five people ahead of me in line at Starbucks?

Death-Valley.us

I think the discussion of road closures and openings has to be taken in the larger context. The closures, in my opinion, is one small spoke of a larger wheel.

Look at how closures occur: enviro groups file suit against the BLM or the Park Service, and rather than fight the lawsuites, they cave in to the enviro's demands, or in the midst of a fight, implement the recommended closures anyway while the fight ensues (Surprise Canyon).

Never mind the lack of science or detailed studies that should be done prior to any mention of closure. And keep in mind that enviro groups' members maintain regular contact with public employees in an effort to influence policy, even though this is against rules within those organizations (public agencies).

Based on my scant research, there are literally thousands and thousands of enviro groups that cull large amounts of money from corporate sponsors. So, they have enormous resources to influence elections, government agencies, and the public. Contrast that with us, the off-roading enthusiasts, who only want to go out for some spiritual renewal. We are scattered, not as organized, and we do not answer to a "calling" the way the enviros do. They have the California Desert Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and a host of other regulations all to protect the environment against US. What do we have?

What is the larger wheel this is a spoke of? I suspect the larger wheel is undisclosed push to erode personal property rights. For example, why don't the enviros go after personal property within cities and counties to protect species? Because they are not quite ready for that fight yet. Not on a full scale, at least. On public lands, it is easy to influence the few who are charged with administration, since we the public are around infrequently, and after all, we have to work to make a living. For the enviros, it is a full time job to run us off the public land if they can. And if they can do that, our private property is next.

Maybe this sounds extreme, and I hate to say it myself. But the writing is on the wall. If Endangeres Species become more important than their stewards, then you will have to abandon your land because some beaurocrat says so, and get a pittance for it if they so choose. Don't have one million$ to fight it? Too bad, goodbye!

Private property rights are the foundation of capitalism and democracy. When that is gone, then the "state" in reality owns your land. And you have nothing. If you can't protect your land, then where will you store your property? Where will you raise your families? Is it too alarmist for you? Then please do your own research and see for yourself. At the very least, register to vote, and vote for candidates who respect your views, whatever they are, because right now that is all the power you have.