Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld • Hacker News Board

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#31

Post by theturtlemoves » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:39 AM UTC

vintagedave wrote: post #11

> This shift coincided with a decrease in adjective TTR below a defined threshold, occurring approximately ten years before Pratchett’s formal diagnosis. The diagnosis was announced in 2007, meaning the shift occurred in 1997. 1997 was after Jingo and before Carpe Jugulum and The Last Continent, and 2007 was after Making Money and before Unseen Academicals. The Last Continent is the first identified in the paper as b…

> My own feeling is that many of his strongest works were before 2000

Interestingly he hired Rob Wilkins in the year 2000. So, did Rob's presence affect the books? Or did Terry hire Rob because he subconsciously knew he needed to compensate for a decline that started to become apparent, by offloading some tasks?

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#32

Post by pseudohadamard » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 8:58 AM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #12

Sample size of n=1 Did they compare to authors with long careers who did not develop dementia? Maybe "decreased lexical diversity" is simply natural artistic progression, and not a bad thing, or symptom of disease.

True. I've noticed this in authors like M.A.R.Barker and Ursula LeGuin, their later works when they were older were very, very different from their earlier ones (in Barker's case the 20-year gap between the two groups probably made it a lot more obvious). If I'd encountered them as being from some random unknown author I probably wouldn't have read them.

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#33

Post by pseudohadamard » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 9:00 AM UTC

NoGravitas wrote: post #10

A man is not dead while his name is still spoken. GNU Terry Pratchett.

Or a thing for that matter, like Cthulhu, or Has&^*##NO CARRIER

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#34

Post by GuB-42 » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 4:13 PM UTC

AreShoesFeet000 wrote: post #4

Loved the paper. Would like to try to reproduce it with intelectual political leadership soon.

Politics is a bit biased, not only because many of these people don't write their own speeches, but also because the complexity of what they say is not neutral. Simpler speech conveys the idea of being no-nonsense and close to the people, while more complexity gives the impression of being intelligent and well thought out.

Depending on who you want to target, you may go one side or the other. For example, republicans tend to use simpler words than democrats to match what their electorate value.

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#35

Post by troupo » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 4:34 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #16

readthenotes1 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has some candidates for your research Eg https://youtu.be/6ing_Ibuw6s?si=hJXXkAoMArNinfgT https://youtube.com/shorts/eZLku9hJPR8?si=d54L6OWWBnkLvz9-

Even just doing presidents would give a good dataset, Reagan, Bush Jr, Biden, Trump.

Re-watching Bush Jr now, in Trump era, makes Bush sound like a veritable genius. And we thought then that he was stupid (and in comparison to himself from a decade or two earlier he was)

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#36

Post by troupo » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #19

axus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Donald Trump comes to rely on the teleprompter more and more, his apparent intelligence will only increase.

He seems to stop following it often. Boredom? Changing his mind?

In his first term people were suggesting that he's functionally illiterate and is incapable of following even the teleprompter. Whether that or he always thinks he's smarter than anyone so wouldn't follow the teleprompter written by someone else.

Re: Detecting Dementia Using Lexical Analysis: Terry Pratchett's Discworld

#37

Post by cindyllm » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

troupo wrote: post #35

lostlogin wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even just doing presidents would give a good dataset, Reagan, Bush Jr, Biden, Trump.

Re-watching Bush Jr now, in Trump era, makes Bush sound like a veritable genius. And we thought then that he was stupid (and in comparison to himself from a decade or two earlier he was)

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