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To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (86235)	1/23/2012 10:26:36 AM
From: Joseph Silent	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 217931

The purpose of language is to communicate information. The word information is derived from Latin ("give form to") and conventionally involves the transmission of knowledge (facts, subjects, events) through symbols, sounds, structure, etc. It is not simple to relate information to meaning through value. These are difficult subjects even though we all have a general and subjective understanding of relationships. In communication, language can be used and abused. DVDW has to decide which of these two he wants to spend his time doing because the result affects communication. Simplicity has value because it maximizes understanding with low time and low effort. Just consider how excited you or I or DVDW would be to walk a mile uphill to fetch an empty cup of coffee. My recommendation is for one to take difficult subjects he/she knows (math, physics, economics, programming) and explain in simple language to their grandmother or mother ..... someone intelligent who has not had the money or the good fortune to be exposed to higher education ..... and in this process you will very quickly learn for yourself just how much you know about anything you talk about. This is as good an exercise for DVDW as it is for me.

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (86235)	1/24/2012 2:06:43 AM
From: Joseph Silent	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217931

As I recall, what you said was >>> I dunno how many times my dad said that to me... growing up... if you really know it... explain it from basic first principles.. I agree.. which really, I think, is quite different. A first principle is a basic, foundational proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption. For example, Kolmogorov's axioms. If I had to take you all the way from these axioms to, say, risk theory ..... neither you nor your dad would have the time or the patience. A concept one may need to explain may dwell quite a long way from first principles, and there would not be enough time in a typical explanation to cover the ground all the way from first principles. Because of this, the best way is usually by analogy ...... and such analogy can convey ideas through simplicity, but without recourse to first principles. Children, for example, generally absorb through analogy and not from first principles. First principles suggest rigor, which is not critical to understanding, though is necessary for development, argument and proof. On the other hand, you do have the right intent and right idea. :)