this is great because:
1, I can review words by learning the next level
2, I can use english immediately no matter which level I am at. because at any level, I have the ability to explain anything
Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
41–50 of 114 posts
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
To tell an alien about handedness definitively, without an artifact, may require that both parties are aware of the CP-violation present in the weak interaction. Put another way, how can we know that aliens won't reconstruct an electromagnetic message as a mirror image of what we sent?
Make use of the right-hand rule, which will suffice so long as they're not made of antimatter.
GP is right. If aliens don't know about CP violation, there is no way to communicate rotational direction that preserves the absolute direction without some shared reference.
Because CP-violation is actually the only detectable way to discern between right handedness and left handedness. That is, without CPv, we would have no way to know that we aren't in a hypothetical mirror universe with all rotations reversed. Every other physical interaction behaves identically left or right.
So we have a few options to deal with our rotationally-challenged alien friends:
1. Hope they can parse far down enough into the dictionary to understand what CP is and either know it or can test it.
2. Communicate using a shared reference, like pointing out two quasars that rotate relative to each other. (Quasars are pretty good galactic reference points.)
3. As long as it doesn't affect giving directions, just don't worry about it, the physics works out the same. If we ever meet and they try to shake our left hand, well, they get their very own "oops I guess electrons are negative then" situation. "And that, kids, is why you always negate earth-radians before using them in a formula."
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#43The 60 words: to see, saw, seen. thing, something, what. this, these. the other, another, else, is the same as, be, am, are, being, was, were. one of. two of. person, people. many of, much of. inside. not, do not, does not, did not, some of. all of. there is, there are. more than, live, alive. big. small. very, kind of. if, then. touch. far from. near to, in a place, someplace, where. above. on a side of, hear, heard…
I'd love to see if there's an interesting relationship between these words and the PIE language ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language )
I guess not, as this is optimized for defining words, not communicating
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
From http://learnthesewordsfirst.com/Lesson-12F.html#12-21 12-20. right. [X is on the right side of your body.] = X is on this side of your body: Most people write using the hand they have on this side of their body. [I use my right hand when I draw pictures.] 12-21. left. [X is on the left side of your body.] = X is on this side of your body: Most people do not write using the hand they have on this side of their bo…
I would think a true minimum set of bootstrapping words would be enough to teach the language to hypothetical aliens who might not have access to a group of humans to poll about handedness.
I’d actually like to see a minimum set of _concepts_ necessary to communicate among humans then choose the language that best uses them.
Such a list would be great to have for many reasons actually.
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but "go ask a bunch of people which hand they write with" seems like a huge copout to me. It's like if prime numbers were defined as, "The numbers most mathematicians say are prime."
So how would you propose to explain which side is which?
Use an asymmetry of the human body. Left is on the same side as your heart.
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#46I suppose this answers https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19331307 "What's the minimum number of words you'd need to define all other words?"
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#47Has there been any attempts to 'translate' this into other languages? I'm struggling most often with vocabulary first, whereas the grammar is much easier for me to grasp (programming helps?)
It's nothing like it but as a beginner, among the best books I've read about vocabulary are the "Madrigal Magic key to X" series of books by Margarita Madrigal. In it, she breaks down how to convert English words into French, German, etc. If I can recall correctly, here are a few simple examples on French:
1) Words ending with -or: replace the -or with -eur
professor –> professeur, aggressor –> aggreseur
2) Words ending with -ist: just add an e at the end
specialist –> specialiste, artist –> artiste
3) Words ending with -ic: replace it with -ique
romantic –> romantique, fantastic –> fantastique
4) Words ending with -ary: change -ary to -aire
extraordinary –> extraordinaire, solitary –> solitaire
5) Most words ending with -a: replace -a with -e
encyclopedia –> encyclopedie, spatula –> spatule
6) Words that end with, -ine, -ble, -ance, and -ion are also spelled the same way in French.
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Make use of the right-hand rule, which will suffice so long as they're not made of antimatter.
How will they know we're not made of antimatter?
If we're not sure both sides of the conversation are made of the same particles, the situation is hopeless.
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Make use of the right-hand rule, which will suffice so long as they're not made of antimatter.
GP is right. If aliens don't know about CP violation, there is no way to communicate rotational direction that preserves the absolute direction without some shared reference. Because CP-violation is actually the only detectable way to discern between right handedness and left handedness. That is, without CPv, we would have no way to know that we aren't in a hypothetical mirror universe with all rotations reversed. Ev…
I don't follow. If we're communicating with aliens that we somehow know are made of matter, we tell them that right is the direction a horizontal wire carrying positive current away from us gets pushed by a vertical magnetic field.
Re: Multi-Layer Dictionary (2016)
#50This reminded me of the minimalist constructed language Toki Pona. As the author herself puts it - " It was my attempt to understand the meaning of life in 120 words."