Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists
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Example:
- string
- thread
- yarn
These three words are very closely related in English and completely unrelated in programming. The first means "sequence of characters", the second means "parallel execution context", and the third means "oh god now they're using npm on the frontend".
Example:
On the subject of "character", programming gives that word several meanings, including "arbitrarily defined integer between 0 and 255 (or -128 and 127) inclusive", "letter, number, or symbol", "letter, number, or symbol, but only for certain languages used in Europe", and occasionally "person in a video game".
Example:
We also have the word "signed", which can mean "this number able to be negative" or "someone encrypted a hash with asymmetric cryptography".
Example:
"Binary" can refer to "machine code file" or "base 2 numbering system" or even "an operator that goes between a pair of things".
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Yes, everyone would be much better off if we let computer science people invent words like “concatenate” instead. Sure, it probably existed before computers did but I doubt many people used it before programmers started to, and I also doubt many people other than programmers use it now. What’s wrong with “plus,” huh? “
"abc"
plus"def"
equals"abcdef"
" sounds fine to me.
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@ben_lubar said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Example:
string
thread
yarnThese three words are very closely related in English and completely unrelated in programming. The first means "sequence of characters", the second means "parallel execution context", and the third means "oh god now they're using npm on the frontend".
String can mean a short length of interwoven threads, or it can mean mounting christmas lights on a house.
Thread can mean a long, thin strand of fiber, or it can mean the spiral on a screw.
Yarn can mean spun thread, or a long rambling story.
English doesn't need technology to confuse future descendents.
EDIT: This isn't atypical in languages though. In Chinese an airplane is described as a "flying engine". What happens in the future when an airplane is no longer motorized or has an engine but has some other means of propulsion? Total chaos, I tell you.
But maybe they'll just call them flying saucers, which makes sense because all aliens top their aircraft with coffee cups.
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@ben_lubar every profession has its own words that don't make sense to general public. My father is electrical engineer. When he says "prąd", which is Polish for electricity, he actually means the measured value of current.
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@xaade said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
But maybe they'll just call them flying saucers, which makes sense because all aliens top their aircraft with coffee cups.
And thanks to Windows rebooting to install updates, no one will be able to shoot them down!
Anyway, how long before @ben_lubar mentions lojban?
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Sometimes I like to believe that the development of human language is a multi-millennial conspiracy to annoy blakey.
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@boomzilla Someone needs to find a related xkcd to annoy him even more.
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ILLEGAL!!
https://i.imgur.com/2RYAd.png
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@ben_lubar History will just describe this as a dark age of linguistics were all words completely lost their meanings because of marketing people. Maybe you're right and we should just learn lojban instead.
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@el_heffe said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
ILLEGAL!!Ironically, using undocumented functionality often creates this effect eventually.
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Polysemy is an established part of human language. Yes, computers have trouble with context sensitive meanings, but real humans rarely do. This also isn't a new thing--it's been that way forever. Archaeologists are used to it.
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@gąska said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
My father is electrical engineer. When he says "prąd", which is Polish for electricity, he actually means the measured value of current.
I am very interested in slang used by electricians and electrical engineers. Do you have a Powerpoint presentation?
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@benjamin-hall said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Polysemy is an established part of human language. Yes, computers have trouble with context sensitive meanings, but real humans rarely do. This also isn't a new thing--it's been that way forever. Archaeologists are used to it.
So very much this. Honestly, to even bring it up as a potential problem show's a lack of understanding about how historiology works.
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@gwowen I see this in a hobby I follow--people getting hung up on using the "right" terms for archaic weaponry in fantasy worlds...even when those terms are a modern standardization of things that weren't really standard at the time and where the historical significance doesn't transfer over to the fantasy worlds.
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@remi said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@boomzilla Someone needs to find a related xkcd to annoy him even more.
Do you think
or
or possibly
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@boomzilla said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Sometimes I like to believe that the development of human language is a multi-millennial conspiracy to annoy blakey.
Blakey is probably in Nostradamus.
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@benjamin-hall said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
modern standardization of things that weren't really standard at the time
They did not need standarization because it was common knowledge how these weapons work, for example that a pointy sword is for stabbing.
Also fantasy often has this unreasonable idea that the quality ("level") of a weapon has huge influence on its deadliness, while in reality skill matters much more than the quality of weapons and you will be just as dead when hit in the head with a rusty-shovel-of-manure-digging as with an exquisite-sword-of-perfection.
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@adynathos There is something to be said for the psychological effect though. "Oh shit! Protagonist McHero has the fabled Sword Of Ass Slashing! Run!" even when that sword would be no more effective at slashing asses than Generic Sword #6561.
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@coderpatsy said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@adynathos There is something to be said for the psychological effect though. "Oh shit! Protagonist McHero has the fabled Sword Of Ass Slashing! Run!" even when that sword would be no more effective at slashing asses than Generic Sword #6561.
What if it had a superior sigil of ass slashing in it?
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@adynathos said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@benjamin-hall said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
modern standardization of things that weren't really standard at the time
They did not need standarization because it was common knowledge how these weapons work, for example that a pointy sword is for stabbing.
Also fantasy often has this unreasonable idea that the quality ("level") of a weapon has huge influence on its deadliness, while in reality skill matters much more than the quality of weapons and you will be just as dead when hit in the head with a rusty-shovel-of-manure-digging as with an exquisite-sword-of-perfection.Where the quality helps is when you want to hit something after the first time you hit something.
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@boomzilla said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@adynathos said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@benjamin-hall said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
modern standardization of things that weren't really standard at the time
They did not need standarization because it was common knowledge how these weapons work, for example that a pointy sword is for stabbing.
Also fantasy often has this unreasonable idea that the quality ("level") of a weapon has huge influence on its deadliness, while in reality skill matters much more than the quality of weapons and you will be just as dead when hit in the head with a rusty-shovel-of-manure-digging as with an exquisite-sword-of-perfection.Where the quality helps is when you want to hit something after the first time you hit something.
All swords can be used once. Good swords can be used more than once.
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From a Windows 95 manual:
To shut down your computer, click "Start"...
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@ben_lubar said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
All swords can be used once. Good swords can be used more than once.
Wasn't that glass cannons?
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@adynathos said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
They did not need standarization because it was common knowledge how these weapons work, for example that a pointy sword is for stabbing.
Is it? They're very commonly used for slashing, actually.
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@masonwheeler said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Is it? They're very commonly used for slashing, actually.
A pointy sword like a rapier. You don't need to know the name to see its function.
Likewise, this is obviously for slashing, because of the shape:
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@adynathos said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
They did not need standarization because it was common knowledge how these weapons work
Also, a lot of the names result from people in modern times trying to categorise things that nobody felt a need to differentiate between at the time. Chances are that what people nowadays would refer to as, say, a rapier or a small sword or a side sword or whatever, were all simply called “sword” by those carrying them when they were actually in use. They might note that one sword was longer or heavier or pointier than another, but I doubt they’d say to each other that, “I’ve bought a new rapier to replace my old side sword” in the way people now say, “I’ve bought a new Core i7 to replace my old i5.”
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@boomzilla said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@el_heffe said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
ILLEGAL!!
undocumented
:smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:
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@boomzilla said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
a multi-millennial conspiracy
How could a group of millenials manage that?
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@gurth said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
They might note that one sword was longer or heavier or pointier than another, but I doubt they’d say to each other that, “I’ve bought a new rapier to replace my old side sword” in the way people now say, “I’ve bought a new Core i7 to replace my old i5.”
Interesting observation.
Now items are mass produced so my i7 will be the same as your i7, the name is very informative. Each of the old swords was made by craftsmen and slightly different than every other sword, so thats a continuous space of swords and classifications mean even less.
(although probably not always - for example standard equipment for a big army, but i think then they would call it "this army's type sword")Not to mention that armor (not sure about swords) had to be made specifically to fit the wearer's size.
In fantasy you can take armor from a small goblin and wear it despite complete size mismatch :)
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@the_quiet_one said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
From a Windows 95 manual:
To shut down your computer, click "Start"...
In Windows 95/98 You could hack explorer.exe so that the "start" button said anything you wanted. Stop and Crash were my personal favorites.
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Bluetooth.
Worst name ever.
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@ben_lubar said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
"an operator that goes between a pair of things"
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@adynathos said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Now items are mass produced so my i7 will be the same as your i7, the name is very informative. Each of the old swords was made by craftsmen and slightly different than every other sword, so thats a continuous space of swords and classifications mean even less.
(although probably not always - for example standard equipment for a big army, but i think then they would call it "this army's type sword")Even that is mixing wildly different things... Are you taking early Middle-Age style or late Middle-Age, or Renaissance? Bands of warriors self-equipped is not the same as small groups of knights each coming with their own retinue is not the same as militias armed by towns is not the same as mercenary groups of the quattrocento is not the same as the first pre-modern semi-regular armies...
(and don't forget that "swords" in particular, whatever their variety, almost never were the most frequent weapon... the most prestigious, yes, but that's not the same)
Not to mention that armor (not sure about swords) had to be made specifically to fit the wearer's size.
Depends on what you call "armour", which in turn also depends on the period. A leather padded vest is pretty universal (well, maybe not between a goblin and a giant, but between normal humans...). Same for a leather vest with bits of chain mail sewed onto it. Still not too wrong for a full chain mail (especially since they were worn with lots of padding underneath, so you can always add/remove a bit). Even bits of plate mail such as a breast plate can be exchanged. It's only when you come to full plate that they have to be bespoke, and even then, since they're made of lots of pieces a skilled craftsman can always rework different ones to accommodate individual variations. Which would not be seen as a particularly unusual job, since nothing at the time was not hand-made and hand-adjusted!
And also, again, plate mail was really the unusual bit of armour, not the most frequent one.
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@el_heffe said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
Bluetooth.
Worst name ever.
Well, if they want to make it even more confusing they could name the next technology of that kind "Barnlock" to follow the theme of literal translations of the names of old nordic kings.
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@anonymous234 said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
@boomzilla said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
a multi-millennial conspiracy
How could a group of millenials manage that?
Probably snapchant or wattsapp or whatever phone program is hip right now. How should I know?
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@boomzilla said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
wattsapp
the non-battery friendly messenger client
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@atazhaia said in Technology seems to be named specifically to confuse future archaeologists:
"Barnlock"
And we'll quickly pervert that to mean it's tech that locks the barn after the horses got out.