On 13 Mar 2008, at 18:36, John Smith wrote:
> I would be seriously impressed by any algorithm that could tell me
> the core subjects of 'The Wasteland' by T S Eliot and then locate
> other works on the same themes.
Go on then John, show me what Dewey can describe about the works of T
S Eliot and I'll stand you a beer next month at OR08! (April is the
cruelest month)
> Could your algorithms even tell me it was a poem?
Ahh. What is poetry? My algorithms would have a good chance of
categorising The Wasteland as poetry because it was (a) published in a
literary magazine and (b) written by a man whose speciality was
poetry. I think Stevan made a similar point about identifying the
subject area of an article from an understanding of the journal it
appeared in. Guilt by association.
> I suspect your algorithms would be like many expert or rule-based
> systems, superior to most human beings in their specialist areas but
> weak to useless outside them.
A little like me and poetry. And Phlebas the Informetrician.
--
Les
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