
Proposals Toward the End of Writing - samclemens
http://logger.believermag.com/post/138988654268/proposals-toward-the-end-of-writing
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weeksie
That was a long way to go to get to a _Ficciones_ reference. The Pierre
Menard's Don Quixote and the Library of Babel are probably my favorite Borges
stories, and I do think they're applicable to the author's point. I just can't
help but feel that it was a painful process to get there.

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ranko
Reminds me a little of Roald Dahl's short story "The Great Automatic
Grammatizator", which is an excellent read (not quite as dark as some of his
fiction, but getting there).

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Donzo
It reminds me of Gnoetry, the algorithmicly generated poetry:

[https://gnoetrydaily.wordpress.com](https://gnoetrydaily.wordpress.com)

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mariodiana
> The outcome is certainly more unique [...]

"Unique" admits no qualification. A thing cannot be "more unique," "less
unique," "very unique," and so forth. A thing is either unique, or it is not.

~~~
Frozenlock
"Stuart: Oooh Sheldon, I'm afraid you couldn't be more wrong.

Sheldon: More wrong? Wrong is an absolute state and not subject to gradation.

Stuart: Of course it is. It is a little wrong to say a tomato is a vegetable,
it is very wrong to say it is a suspension bridge."

~~~
logicalDuck
Wrong is a binary state, you're wrong or not, both statements are equally
wrong. What you're looking for is the term "Farther from the truth" Saying a
tomato is a vegetable is closer to the truth (or closer to correct) than to
say it is a suspension bridge. However both are completely and unequivocally
wrong as wrong is a binary state.

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coldtea
Unfortunately, you're wrong. "Wrong" is a binary state only in abstract Logic.

When it comes to human languages the use of such words in a comparative manner
is a common and accepted occurrence, from ancient times even. It's also a
phenomenon (along with numerous others mistakenly thought as "wrong") that has
been heavily studied by linguists and considered an example of a valid use of
language as it evolves (as opposed to a syntactical or spelling error that
comes from ignorance or from a lapse of concentration).

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logicalDuck
Do you have any references or studies that you could point me to? I'd love to
read about the studies that have been done. Logic vs language is a really
interesting topic since it basically means the integration of your expert
skill set (how much you use logic and logical constructs) will inform your
understanding of language. I wonder if that definition of wrong that linguists
have found will change if our society shifts more towards a logic based
outlook, or more jobs that work with binary state.

