Quote from: MadAlpha on August 25, 2014, 04:48:23 PM

Quote from: Timo Y on August 24, 2014, 09:51:21 AM

It is impossible for words to have a "clearly defined meaning". All words have fuzzy meanings. That is how the human language works.

I don't think this is correct, at all. We have things like math, physics and logic, all of which use precise language. All our knowledge and technology is based on that assumption. We have computers and Bitcoin precisely because a statement like "two plus two equals four" is not ambiguous or fuzzy.

I think language can be as precise or as fuzzy as we want it to be.

If the purpose is to convey information, isn't it in our interest to make sure our language is clear, and words have definite meaning? Otherwise all this discussion is just fuzzy background noise, containing no usable information, and no knowledge can be learned from it. We are essentially wasting our time in that case.

If you read a long sentence, and understand everything except one word, that one word could turn the meaning of the whole sentence to something else. The informational value of such a sentence is mediocre at best.

There is no reason we should accept a language which is inprecise or fuzzy. If we give up our ability to communicate clearly, then everything is lost, and we become less than savage cavemen fighting with clubs. I suspect there may be some forces in the world who are intentionally trying to lower the quality and precision of our language.

Maybe inprecise language can have its use in art, like songs or poems, where we are conveying things like emotions, and not pure information. Not sure.

Excellent observation. Yes, it's the scammers that use smoke and mirrors to hijack words and try to change their meanings.