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   RE: [xml-dev] Analogy (was RE: [xml-dev] quarantining namespaces)

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It's like that Star Trek episode...

where Piccard encounters a race that communicates 
by analogy, whereas he, a rational logical starfleet 
officer relies on logic and precise rationale.

The analogists whip the Enterprise's butt.  They 
understoodd and communicated very complex concepts 
in very short bursts of acquired symbols and over 
time, that had enabled them to be precise among 
themselves, and vague to anyone talking to them. 
It had also enabled them to develop very powerful 
technology quickly past the phase of sharing their 
myths.

On the surface dealing with an invisible 
monster, the analogical captain has to 
sacrifice himself so that Piccard can 
finally understand the danger.  Had they 
spent more time communicating, they may have 
acquired a name for the monster, but they 
didn't.  That is the risk of analogical 
communication.  Note that this is how 
communities build cultures.

Until we share names beyond "I know what 
I know if you know what I mean", analogy 
is one way to proceed.   Consider that the 
semantic web will spend a lot of time in 
negotiation.  Logic will enable them to 
say "this is this" not "this is that" 
reliably.   Names won't do outside a 
system that refuses or cannot share 
those names.  Analogies aren't efficient 
inside a system that does.

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the 
right, here I am, stuck in the middle 
with you." Stealers Wheel

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Champion [mailto:mc@xegesis.org]
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 3:31 PM
To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject: [xml-dev] Analogy (was RE: [xml-dev] quarantining namespaces)


8/12/2002 4:19:32 PM, "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com> wrote:

>Nah.  Leave it as it is as an exemplar of 
>why programmers can't reason by analogy, 
>thus failing to communicate with 80% of their 
>customers while satisfying 20% of their 
>customer's requirements.

I recently had to give a presentation at the annual sales meeting
of a partner company.  During the coffee period preceding my
talk (supported by the usual PPT slides) I learned to my dismay
that a hot-shot sales trainer had been in the day before and told
them that one should NEVER put bullet points in a presentations, but
rather to rely on images and analogies.  

So, analogy may be slipperier than logic (quoth Heinlein???) but it
seems to be the rhetorical tool of choice for communicating with
the non-nerds of the world. 

I'm not sure if I'm agreeing or disagreeing with Len :~)




 

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