[ExI] Free will was: Everett worlds

[William Flynn Wallace]

Do you think, John, that kids cannot define the words they use?  Sure, they
see a man doing the high jump and learn the definition of that skill.  I
would argue that examples ARE definitions.  But abstractions are much
harder to provide examples of, which is why people like me cannot grok
quantum theory.  You can't show it to me.  Usage, for us liberal guys, is
what defines words, and the dictionaries follow that, mostly, though some
hold out for years, as they did on 'ain't'.  It is for sure a word.

I am peculiar, as we all know.  I spent a good deal of my life, and still a
part of it, with my nose in a dictionary, preferably a big one - right now
I have three large tomes of the OED - too expensive online - and an icon
that sends me directly to etymology.com.  I also need one for modern
slang.  "Mansplained" is a recent entry for me.  bill w

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 1:50 PM John Clark via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 11:44 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> > There is nothing more important than the definition of words, because
>> without precise ones we cannot communicate.
>
>
> Nonsense! Children don't learn to speak from definitions, and  where do
> you think lexicographers got the information to write the definitions in
> their Dictionary? There is only one place they could have gotten it, from
> examples. Most people don't have a dictionary in their house and haven't
> used one since their fifth grade teacher made them, but they nevertheless
> manage to communicate just fine.
>
> John K Clark
>
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