[ExI] Re-framing Innovation re Consciousness

[hkhenson]

At 12:27 PM 1/3/2008, Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:

> > At 05:56 PM 12/31/2007, Keith wrote:
>
> > Heh, "too focused on segregating meaning."  I can't parse that either.
> >
> > Rather than top-down or bottom-up parsing you could try
> > lateral-parsing.  Actually, please don't!

You need not worry because I have no idea what "lateral-parsing" might mean.

Take catalytic, a word I think you have used.  That has a clear 
meaning in chemical engineering such as a catalytic converter on 
cars, a device used to speed up chemical reactions or a catalytic 
cracker 
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/energyslang/catcracker.html 
used in making gasoline out of crude oil fractions that are about as 
thick as Vaseline.

In a social context I would never use that word since there are other 
words such as "facilitate" that convey just about any possible 
meaning you had in mind without the interference you get from a word 
having different meanings in other fields.

As long as you are not trying to communicate outside a special group, 
using such words with varying meaning depending on the group is 
fine.  If you are trying for wider communication, such words get in 
the way of transferring your thoughts to other people.

I remember not long ago having several people's eyes glaze over when 
three of us out of a group of 7 or 8 people started talking about the 
internal details of generational garbage collectors (the Ungar moving 
kind). 
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=808261&dl=GUIDE&coll=GUIDE&CFID=48488706&CFTOKEN=32848191

The words are used in a way remote from grandparents operating a 
trash pickup service.

Keith