Another Word For It Patrick Durusau on Topic Maps and Semantic Diversity

May 31, 2012

Sarcastic Computers?

Filed under: Context,Context Models,Context-aware,Inference — Patrick Durusau @ 2:07 pm

You may have seen the headline: Could Sarcastic Computers Be in Our Future? New Math Model Can Help Computers Understand Inference.

And the lead for the article sounds promising:

In a new paper, the researchers describe a mathematical model they created that helps predict pragmatic reasoning and may eventually lead to the manufacture of machines that can better understand inference, context and social rules.

Language is so much more than a string of words. To understand what someone means, you need context.

Consider the phrase, “Man on first.” It doesn’t make much sense unless you’re at a baseball game. Or imagine a sign outside a children’s boutique that reads, “Baby sale — One week only!” You easily infer from the situation that the store isn’t selling babies but advertising bargains on gear for them.

Present these widely quoted scenarios to a computer, however, and there would likely be a communication breakdown. Computers aren’t very good at pragmatics — how language is used in social situations.

But a pair of Stanford psychologists has taken the first steps toward changing that.

Context being one of those things you can use semantic mapping techniques to capture, I was interested.

Jack Park pointed me to a public PDF of the article: Predicting pragmatic reasoning in language games

Be sure to read the entire file.

A blue square, a blue circle, a green square.

Not exactly a general model for context and inference.

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