On Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 09:54:23PM +0900, Eleanor McHugh wrote:
> On 23 Mar 2007, at 05:43, Chad Perrin wrote:
> >On Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 10:20:50AM +0900, Peñá, Botp wrote:
> >>if language is data, then from whence did it came from?
> >
> >Language is an abstracted, reformulated (or refactored) form of
> >preexisting data.  The only argument for the spontaneous generation of
> >data from processes that really strikes me as particularly  
> >believable is
> >based on the idea of human creativity.
> >
> >On the other hand, the Taoist in me wants to say that these divisions
> >between process and data are illusory, and both are one and the same.
> >Still, when programming it's generally far more useful to program  
> >to the
> >data, rather than imagine that you're using data to support the  
> >program.
> 
> The physicist in me would tend to agree. Being and Doing are merely  
> useful abstractions for the 'time'-dependent asymmetries of phase space.

Having read and enjoyed The Tao of Physics several times, I find that I
rather like that response.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your
hands and hopping when a rock or a club will do." - McCloctnick the Lucid