Re: Update from Silicon Forest
"A. Jorge Garcia via Edu-sig" <[email protected]> Wed, 5 Apr 2023 16:08:30 +0000 (UTC)
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--===============4198154665819678043== Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_Part_1417829_8852820.1680710910998" ------=_Part_1417829_8852820.1680710910998 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Kirby, Wow you are busy! Great post. The Silicon Forest and your students are luck= y to have you. I, myself, have been trying to tear the Graphing Calculators out of teacher= s' cold dead hands for decades now. Here's a blogpost I wrote about a recen= t conference presentation I gave about using Jupyter Notebook instead of Gr= aphing Calculators in the Mathematics classroom, http://shadowfaxrant.blogs= pot.com=C2=A0 I suppose it's partially my fault as I trained teachers to use Graphing Cal= culators in the 1990s... Enjoy,Al A. Jorge Garcia=C2=A0Applied Math & CSNassau Community College=C2=A0 Sent from AOL on Android=20 =20 On Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 11:58 AM, kirby urner<[email protected]> wrote= : =20 Originally from Math4Wisdom public listserv, hosted by Andrius Kulikauskas,= PhD.https://www.freelists.org/list/math4wisdom From: kirby urner <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 8:16=E2=80=AFAM Subject: Re: [math4wisdom] Re: What is algebra? How do we describe adding, = subtracting, multiplying, dividing? To: M4W clique Glad to see David chiming in.=C2=A0=20 I'm continuing my conversation with Jon re the Bucky stuff on another lists= erv (also public archives, like M4W) [1] [1]=C2=A0 https://groups.io/g/synergeo/message/2260 On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 2:24=E2=80=AFPM David Pinto <[email protected]>= wrote: Thanks Andrius et al =C2=A0 Not philosophy. Just what is going on when we count, do addition, subtracti= on, multiplication, addition. What is Algebra? I really like M4W's focus on Pascal's Triangle (binomial theorem) as a door= way into (a) combinatorics and (b) polynomials more generally, leading (eve= ntually) to the classification of polynomials (their taxonomy) into such as= Bernoulli, Hermite, Sheffer,=C2=A0Chebyshev.=C2=A0=20 Pascal's Triangle is what I call a "grand central station" on our planet (a= ka "Math World" if we wanna call it that, or, more parochially, for me, "Py= thon Planet"). As a curriculum developer for the Silicon Forest (Oregon Curriculum Network= is my public vehicle, backed by my proprietary 4D Solutions (4dsolutions.n= et)), I've been injecting more Abstract Algebra into Algebra (the pre-colle= ge academic subject) by means of Python. As many of you know, I'm one of those math teachers who thinks we should di= tch graphing calculators for big screen computers, even though this disrupt= s the factory-based "every kid has a locker, moves from room to room" pictu= re of what "school" is supposed to be.=C2=A0 Python can do anything a graph= ing calculator does, including plots (xy-curves, histogram, pie chart... i.= e. it's great for statistics, i.e. data science, as well as for generic geo= metry). Students might have to take a van or bus to specific buildings to access th= eir workspaces though, as these take up too much room per the standard mode= l classroom.=20 https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/4d/99/7f4d99ec33a9736f3fb890b6127894eb.jp= ghttps://thetechnodiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Cooler-Master-ORB-X-= GamePod.jpg Safe to say: ergonomics is tier one, in terms of priority topics.=C2=A0=20 Cramped desk or game-ready pod?=C2=A0 For some, it's a no brainer. Python allows operator overloading i.e. we can define new classes of object= that control what the operators mean to them.=C2=A0 Not every computer lan= guage (e.g. Java) allows this. Lesson Plan:=20 A typical Silicon Forest lesson plan features the function type object, whi= ch originally, out of the box, comes unequipped with any meaning for multip= lication.=C2=A0=20 We then create a new class (new type) based on the function, its instances = callable with the same arguments, giving the same outputs, that makes "mult= iply" mean "compose", the archetypal thing we do with functions.=C2=A0=20 Instead of:=20 f ( g (x) ) i.e. f after g of x=20 we now get to write:=20 (f * g)(x)=20 or even: h =3D f * g and later:=20 h(x) Example (screen shots) https://www.flickr.com/photos/kirbyurner/52795727030/sizes/c/https://flic.k= r/s/aHsknZHG75 (album)https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzJdXN=C2=A0 (a school the let = me prototype; Saturday Academy another) Part of abstract algebra is elementary group theory and learning that subtr= action and division are "syntactic sugar" for "adding the additive inverse = of" and "multiplying by the multiplicative inverse of" respectively.=C2=A0= =20 Then we dive into all that totative / totient stuff, i.e. groups of totativ= es of N mod N, aiming towards Fermat's Little, and Euler's Theorems used to= implement the RSA algorithm (public key crypto).=C2=A0=20 This is already an established east coast college prep=C2=A0 pathway at Phi= llips Academy / Andover [1].=C2=A0=20 The Silicon Forest is playing catch up in some respects.=C2=A0=20 I'm a big fan of the Abstract Algebra lectures on the YouTube channel Socra= tica, also good on Python. [2] [1]=C2=A0 https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/1855295 (authors were faculty= at the time) [2]=C2=A0 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=3DPLi01XoE8jYoi3SgnnGorR_XOW3Ic= K-TP6 =3D=3D=3DPhilosophy of Mathematics I mentioned to Andrius my interest in Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosoph= y, which later philo LW encouraged us to take in by using his earlier philo= (Tractatus) for contrast, and for clues as to what he was aiming to show a= nd/or induce.=C2=A0=20 His Philosophical Investigations (posthumous) dovetails with his Remarks on= the Foundations of Mathematics.=20 I consider him another philosopher of mathematics, albeit under-appreciated= (somewhat like RBF in that regard -- I merge the two, featuring Bucky-styl= e language games under a philosophers' microscope (LW's technique)).=C2=A0 = EJA said he enjoyed my RBF/LW confluence. Two points on LW's contribution: (1)=C2=A0 he had a strong interest in 'aspect shifts' i.e. the schooling of= our perceptions, such that immersion in a discipline changes how we see th= e world.=C2=A0 Example:=C2=A0 it's all but impossible to "unsee" a language= we know well i.e. to have the symbols revert to meaningless squiggles, as = when staring at a language we do not know (e.g. Japanese for me=C2=A0 -- I = can't unsee English to make it seem that opaque).=C2=A0 Many math languages= certainly have that power:=C2=A0 to induce new ways of seeing, perhaps irr= evocably (and perhaps not always for the better, let's accept). (2)=C2=A0 he took the meanings of such words as "addition", "computation", = "understanding", "thinking" to be intrinsically public i.e. private sensati= ons, observations of mental processes, internal states would not be essenti= al to our investigations.=C2=A0 Introspective forays in search of "what X r= eally means" in the sense of "what X points to internally" were in his esti= mation misguided (in the sense of superstitious).=C2=A0 Symbols do not gain= their meanings from pointing, but from patterns of use. Think not of point= ers, but of tools (e.g. a screwdriver), or of pieces on a game board (e.g. = a pawn in chess). The upshot was: most readers, including other philosophers, could not shift= their own perceptions sufficiently, per (1) above, to make sense of what h= e was getting at per (2). Here's a mental exercise (a thought experiment):=C2=A0 imagine a non-experi= ential non-sentient AI bot that uses human voice boxes as peripherals, and = also propagates in writing, eventually becoming so ubiquitous that we inter= nalize it, imagine it speaking.=C2=A0 Spend a few minutes to hours someday = having this be your new gestalt.=C2=A0 Do any aspect shifts occur? As I wrote to an old friend on Telegram (we were discussing AI): kirby urner, [Mar 26, 2023 at 8:40:25 AM]: Probably my main influence is Wittgenstein, who famously, according to said= book, threatened Popper with a fire poker, although in my camp's telling, = he's doing another Zen koan type gesture, saying language is a lot more tha= n we're able to say. As a thought experiment in my 1980 About Wittgenstein thesis, I had a non-s= entient AI GPT computer named Adam speaking through all human beings, sayin= g "I" this and "I" that, but not really having subjectivity.=C2=A0 Adam =3D= Language. Of course back then I didn't say GPT or AI, so I'm updating my t= erms. As GPT would. As I would, as Adam. Kirby =C2=A0_______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/edu-sig.python.org/ Member address: [email protected] =20 ------=_Part_1417829_8852820.1680710910998 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Kirby,<div><br><div>Wow you are busy! Great post. The Silicon Forest and= your students are lucky to have you.</div><div><br></div><div>I, myself, h= ave been trying to tear the Graphing Calculators out of teachers' cold dead= hands for decades now. Here's a blogpost I wrote about a recent conference= presentation I gave about using Jupyter Notebook instead of Graphing Calcu= lators in the Mathematics classroom, http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com = ;</div><div><br></div><div>I suppose it's partially my fault as I trained t= eachers to use Graphing Calculators in the 1990s...</div><div><br></div><di= v>Enjoy,</div><div>Al</div><div><br></div><div>A. Jorge Garcia </div><= div>Applied Math & CS</div><div>Nassau Community College <br><br><= div id=3D"ymail_android_signature"><a id=3D"ymail_android_signature_link" h= ref=3D"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=3Dcom.aol.mobile.aolap= p">Sent from AOL on Android</a></div> <br> <blockquote style=3D"margin: 0 0= 20px 0;"> <div style=3D"font-family:Roboto, sans-serif; color:#6D00F6;"> <= div>On Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 11:58 AM, kirby urner</div><div><kirby.urner@= gmail.com> wrote:</div> </div> <div style=3D"padding: 10px 0 0 20px; mar= gin: 10px 0 0 0; border-left: 1px solid #6D00F6;"> <div id=3D"yiv0698287229= "><div dir=3D"ltr"><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:= small;" class=3D"yiv0698287229gmail_default"><br></div><div style=3D"font-f= amily:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;" class=3D"yiv0698287229gmail_def= ault">Originally from Math4Wisdom public listserv, hosted by Andrius Kulika= uskas, PhD.</div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:sm= all;" class=3D"yiv0698287229gmail_default"><a rel=3D"nofollow noopener nore= ferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://www.freelists.org/list/math4wisdo= m">https://www.freelists.org/list/math4wisdom</a></div><br><div class=3D"yi= v0698287229gmail_quote"><div dir=3D"ltr"><br>From: <b class=3D"yiv069828722= 9gmail_sendername">kirby urner</b> <span><<a rel=3D"nofollow noopener no= referrer" ymailto=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank" href= =3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>></span><br>D= ate: Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 8:16=E2=80=AFAM<br>Subject: Re: [math4wisdom] Re: = What is algebra? How do we describe adding, subtracting, multiplying, divid= ing?<br>To: <span style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;= " class=3D"yiv0698287229gmail_default">M4W clique</span></div><div dir=3D"l= tr"><span style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;" class= =3D"yiv0698287229gmail_default"><br></span></div><div dir=3D"ltr"><span sty= le=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;" class=3D"yiv0698287= 229gmail_default"></span><br><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;= font-size:small;">Glad to see David chiming in. <br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">I'm continuing my con= versation with Jon re the Bucky stuff on another listserv (also public arch= ives, like M4W) [1]<br></div></div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><br></div><div><di= v style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">[1] <a r= el=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://group= s.io/g/synergeo/message/2235">https://groups.io/g/synergeo/message/2260</a>= </div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br><= /div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"></div>= <br></div><div class=3D"yiv0698287229gmail_quote"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D= "yiv0698287229gmail_attr">On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 2:24=E2=80=AFPM David Pint= o <<a rel=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" ymailto=3D"mailto:david@ecosq= uared.co.uk" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">david= @ecosquared.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote style=3D"margin:0px 0= px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;" clas= s=3D"yiv0698287229gmail_quote"><div>Thanks Andrius et al<div></div></div></= blockquote><div> </div><blockquote style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;b= order-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;" class=3D"yiv069828= 7229gmail_quote"><div><div>Not philosophy. Just what is going on when we co= unt, do addition, subtraction, multiplication, addition.</div><div><br></di= v><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div style=3D"f= ont-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">What is Algebra?</div><div= style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div></div= ><div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"></div= ><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">I really l= ike M4W's focus on Pascal's Triangle (binomial theorem) as a doorway into (= a) combinatorics and (b) polynomials more generally, leading (eventually) t= o the classification of polynomials (their taxonomy) into such as Bernoulli= , Hermite, Sheffer, <span>Chebyshev</span>. <br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Pascal's Triangle is = what I call a "grand central station" on our planet (aka "Math World" if we= wanna call it that, or, more parochially, for me, "Python Planet").<br></d= iv><br></div><div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:s= mall;">As a curriculum developer for the Silicon Forest (Oregon Curriculum = Network is my public vehicle, backed by my proprietary 4D Solutions (<a rel= =3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"http://4dsoluti= ons.net">4dsolutions.net</a>)), I've been injecting more Abstract Algebra i= nto Algebra (the pre-college academic subject) by means of Python.</div><di= v style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div= style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">As many of you = know, I'm one of those math teachers who thinks we should ditch graphing ca= lculators for big screen computers, even though this disrupts the factory-b= ased "every kid has a locker, moves from room to room" picture of what "sch= ool" is supposed to be. Python can do anything a graphing calculator = does, including plots (xy-curves, histogram, pie chart... i.e. it's great f= or statistics, i.e. data science, as well as for generic geometry).<br></di= v><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div= ><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Students m= ight have to take a van or bus to specific buildings to access their worksp= aces though, as these take up too much room per the standard model classroo= m. <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;= "><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"= ><a rel=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://= i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/4d/99/7f4d99ec33a9736f3fb890b6127894eb.jpg">https= ://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/4d/99/7f4d99ec33a9736f3fb890b6127894eb.jpg</a>= </div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><a re= l=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://thetec= hnodiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Cooler-Master-ORB-X-GamePod.jpg">ht= tps://thetechnodiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Cooler-Master-ORB-X-Gam= ePod.jpg</a></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:s= mall;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:sm= all;">Safe to say: ergonomics is tier one, in terms of priority topics.&nbs= p; <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;= "><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"= >Cramped desk or game-ready pod? For some, it's a no brainer.<br></di= v><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div= ><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Python all= ows operator overloading i.e. we can define new classes of object that cont= rol what the operators mean to them. Not every computer language (e.g= . Java) allows this.<br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif= ;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;= font-size:small;">Lesson Plan: <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana,= sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, = sans-serif;font-size:small;">A typical Silicon Forest lesson plan features = the function type object, which originally, out of the box, comes unequippe= d with any meaning for multiplication. <br></div><div style=3D"font-f= amily:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-fa= mily:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">We then create a new class (new = type) based on the function, its instances callable with the same arguments= , giving the same outputs, that makes "multiply" mean "compose", the archet= ypal thing we do with functions. <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:= verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:v= erdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Instead of: <br></div><div style=3D"fo= nt-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"fon= t-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">f ( g (x) ) i.e. f after g o= f x <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small= ;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;= ">we now get to write: <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-se= rif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-ser= if;font-size:small;">(f * g)(x) <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana= , sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana,= sans-serif;font-size:small;">or even:</div><div style=3D"font-family:verda= na, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdan= a, sans-serif;font-size:small;">h =3D f * g<br></div><div style=3D"font-fam= ily:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-fami= ly:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">and later: <br></div><div style=3D= "font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"= font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">h(x)<br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Example (screen shots= )<br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">= <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><= a rel=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://ww= w.flickr.com/photos/kirbyurner/52795727030/sizes/c/">https://www.flickr.com= /photos/kirbyurner/52795727030/sizes/c/</a></div><div style=3D"font-family:= verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><a rel=3D"nofollow noopener noreferre= r" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://flic.kr/s/aHsknZHG75">https://flic.kr/= s/aHsknZHG75</a> (album)</div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif= ;font-size:small;"><a rel=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank= " href=3D"https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzJdXN">https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzJdXN</a>&nb= sp; (a school the let me prototype; Saturday Academy another)<br></div><div= style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div = style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Part of abstract= algebra is elementary group theory and learning that subtraction and divis= ion are "syntactic sugar" for "adding the additive inverse of" and "multipl= ying by the multiplicative inverse of" respectively. <br></div><div s= tyle=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div st= yle=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Then we dive into = all that totative / totient stuff, i.e. groups of totatives of N mod N, aim= ing towards Fermat's Little, and Euler's Theorems used to implement the RSA= algorithm (public key crypto). <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:v= erdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:ve= rdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">This is already an established east coa= st college prep pathway at Phillips Academy / Andover [1]. <br>= </div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br><= /div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">The Si= licon Forest is playing catch up in some respects. <br></div><div sty= le=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div styl= e=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">I'm a big fan of the= Abstract Algebra lectures on the YouTube channel Socratica, also good on P= ython. [2]<br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size= :small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:= small;">[1] <a rel=3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank"= href=3D"https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/1855295">https://dl.acm.org/do= i/book/10.5555/1855295</a> (authors were faculty at the time)<br></div><div= style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div = style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">[2] <a rel= =3D"nofollow noopener noreferrer" target=3D"_blank" href=3D"https://youtube= .com/playlist?list=3DPLi01XoE8jYoi3SgnnGorR_XOW3IcK-TP6">https://youtube.co= m/playlist?list=3DPLi01XoE8jYoi3SgnnGorR_XOW3IcK-TP6</a></div><div style=3D= "font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div></div><div><di= v style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">=3D=3D=3D</div= ><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"></div><div= style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Philosophy of M= athematics<br></div><br></div><div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-= serif;font-size:small;">I mentioned to Andrius my interest in Ludwig Wittge= nstein's later philosophy, which later philo LW encouraged us to take in by= using his earlier philo (Tractatus) for contrast, and for clues as to what= he was aiming to show and/or induce. <br></div><div style=3D"font-fa= mily:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-fam= ily:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">His Philosophical Investigations = (posthumous) dovetails with his Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics. = <br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><= br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">I = consider him another philosopher of mathematics, albeit under-appreciated (= somewhat like RBF in that regard -- I merge the two, featuring Bucky-style = language games under a philosophers' microscope (LW's technique)). EJ= A said he enjoyed my RBF/LW confluence.<br></div><div style=3D"font-family:= verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:v= erdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">Two points on LW's contribution:</div>= <div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><= div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">(1) he= had a strong interest in 'aspect shifts' i.e. the schooling of our percept= ions, such that immersion in a discipline changes how we see the world.&nbs= p; Example: it's all but impossible to "unsee" a language we know wel= l i.e. to have the symbols revert to meaningless squiggles, as when staring= at a language we do not know (e.g. Japanese for me -- I can't unsee = English to make it seem that opaque). Many math languages certainly h= ave that power: to induce new ways of seeing, perhaps irrevocably (an= d perhaps not always for the better, let's accept).<br></div><div style=3D"= font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"f= ont-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">(2) he took the mean= ings of such words as "addition", "computation", "understanding", "thinking= " to be intrinsically public i.e. private sensations, observations of menta= l processes, internal states would not be essential to our investigations.&= nbsp; Introspective forays in search of "what X really means" in the sense = of "what X points to internally" were in his estimation misguided (in the s= ense of superstitious). Symbols do not gain their meanings from point= ing, but from patterns of use. Think not of pointers, but of tools (e.g. a = screwdriver), or of pieces on a game board (e.g. a pawn in chess).<br></div= ><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div>= <div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">The upshot = was: most readers, including other philosophers, could not shift their own = perceptions sufficiently, per (1) above, to make sense of what he was getti= ng at per (2).</div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size= :small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:= small;">Here's a mental exercise (a thought experiment): imagine a no= n-experiential non-sentient AI bot that uses human voice boxes as periphera= ls, and also propagates in writing, eventually becoming so ubiquitous that = we internalize it, imagine it speaking. Spend a few minutes to hours = someday having this be your new gestalt. Do any aspect shifts occur?<= /div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></= div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">As I wr= ote to an old friend on Telegram (we were discussing AI):</div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><br></div><div style= =3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;">kirby urner, [Mar 26,= 2023 at 8:40:25 AM]:</div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;fo= nt-size:small;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;fon= t-size:small;">Probably my main influence is Wittgenstein, who famously, ac= cording to said book, threatened Popper with a fire poker, although in my c= amp's telling, he's doing another Zen koan type gesture, saying language is= a lot more than we're able to say.<br><br>As a thought experiment in my 19= 80 About Wittgenstein thesis, I had a non-sentient AI GPT computer named Ad= am speaking through all human beings, saying "I" this and "I" that, but not= really having subjectivity. Adam =3D Language. Of course back then I= didn't say GPT or AI, so I'm updating my terms. As GPT would. As I would, = as Adam.</div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small= ;"><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;= "><br></div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"= >Kirby</div><div style=3D"font-family:verdana, sans-serif;font-size:small;"= ><br></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div></div></div= > </div></div> </div>_______________________________________________<br>Edu-sig mailing li= st -- <a ymailto=3D"mailto:[email protected]" href=3D"mailto:edu-sig@pytho= n.org">[email protected]</a><br>To unsubscribe send an email to <a ymailto= =3D"mailto:[email protected]" href=3D"mailto:[email protected]= g">[email protected]</a><br><a href=3D"https://mail.python.org/mailm= an3/lists/edu-sig.python.org/" target=3D"_blank">https://mail.python.org/ma= ilman3/lists/edu-sig.python.org/</a><br>Member address: <a ymailto=3D"mailt= o:[email protected]" href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><b= r> </div> </blockquote></div></div> ------=_Part_1417829_8852820.1680710910998-- --===============4198154665819678043== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/edu-sig.python.org/ Member address: [email protected] --===============4198154665819678043==--