WJhonson@aol.com wrote in message news://news.gmane.org/d55.57c09b43.37c33b60@aol.com...
In a message dated 8/23/2009 4:53:57 AM Pacific Daylight Time, brewhaha@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca writes:
The search for "bees" and "flowers" suggests "pollination". I do not see anything mindless about that. That is a human association>>
You're not understanding me. An article discussing bees and mentioning that they pollinate flowers IS a human association. I didn't say it wasn't. However the meta-network of *all* such associations to the nth degree of relatedness is not something a human can encompass in one bite. That's one thing.
What I was stating is that this meta-network itself, is created by a computer algorithm, which ITSELF has no mind. It has no idea what the terms mean, or refer to, or imply. It only knows that they are associated in some way. It creates this meta-network and ranks the associations in a mindless way, i.e. without comprehension. That's what I meant.
People maintain the database (or meta-network, as you call it)--a collection of data and pointers, of words and associations. It is not important that the machine has no comprehension of links (pointers) in the database or eigenvectors that it is calculating. As long as human input is reprezented in that database, there is a foundation. Yes, it is a mechanical process, like anything on computers, complete with errors and an incomplete understanding of idiom. The point is that it delivers the impression of a smart search. _______ Cat Zen Master: What is the sound of one paw slashing?