"All knowledge is either identification or classification" - II

So I continue.

When David MacKay finished his Dasher talk, we had a chat with him in the Wireless Foundations' lounge. Earlier in the talk, MacKay had used a light on his hat and a sensor on his computer to write using dasher, at a pretty good speed.

Venkat made a point that this was similar to a sci-fi book he had read, where the people use their eyes to communicate ideas. Not words. Ideas. He asked whether such a system was possible using Dasher.

"Absolutely!" said MacKay, pointing out that symolic language allows him to convey the idea of an aeroplane, using the symbol of a machine, and of a bird.

Underlying this scheme of communicating ideas is the assumption that all ideas can be generated by combinations of previously known ideas. I do not particularly like the assumption. It is not saying that ideas are finite, even countable. For the basis set of ideas can be infinite. Even with a finite set of symbols, much like music, an infinite number of ideas can be generated. But I believe there is much more to ideas than the combinations of some known ones.

Regardless, this is an example of how language, a tool to express and communicate ideas and knowledge, allows us to construct ideas and knowledge as well. And language is about identification, by a term for any new element, and classification, by observing similarities. (There is a structure to language as well, but that is not central to the point I am making). Again, topology (and, indeed, algebra) is a good illustration of this general principle. Whatever we learn, we store it as knowledge using a language, by identification and classification using specific terms.

I have one more issue to explore here, shall continue next week!

"All knowledge is either identification or classification"

I came across this statement quite a while back, as an undergraduate. I did not like it. "Where's the room for creativity, then?", I thought.

Let me first analyze what the statement claims. 'Identification' is above observing aspects of the object of interest which are shared by known objects. 'Classification', on the other hand, is above observing the differences, and giving the class of objects which share the differences a new name.

Let us take an example. Say we observe an object in the air which performs quick vertical motions of a shaft at one end as it moves in the opposite direction. We classify the characteristics : It is an 'object', a 'living' object? An animal. It is 'flying'? A bird. A bird which flies using its 'tail'.

The above statements are a series of classifications and identifications. We identified the object as/with an animal, a bird. Finally, we classified it as a bird which flies using its tail. If we give the class of such birds a name ('tail-wing-bird'?), it can be used to classify other birds which do the same.

They are also based on numerous classifications and identification. A flying living object (colloquially) identified as a 'bird', was once classified, placed in a different class, from other living objects. All such new objects were identified as birds. Birds with a long beak, a thrusted-out chest, and which ate fish were identified, and classified as kingfishers.

I began accepting this statement when I started learning a new language : topology. Every theorem in topology is either about observing differences, or identifying common aspects. A new term is given to each class of objects thus obtained. Indeed, this is not only true of topology, but also of any other branch of study. In topology, the fact is only more evident than in other such branches.

In fact, that is what language is all about. In gaining knowledge, all we are doing is developing a language, by classifying and identifying as many objects as possible. Language, thus, is not only a tool to communicate, but also a tool to increase knowledge. By giving a name to several objects which share some properties, we reduce the requirements of our understanding of each object, and remember them as a box. The box denotes all the objects which share those properties. The box, if opened, contains several other boxes, each according to a set of properties.

I am trying to get somewhere, with Dasher and one conversation regarding Dasher in mind. Should continue next week!

The dark side of the Sonar Killa: Open question!

First, this phenomena is quite general. Almost all tourist places in India have children working for long hours.

We met some farmers and on my visit to Orissa, I saw people there who was poorer than those on Sam Sand dunes in Jaisalmer, but I also remember that the kids went to school. Education, and the ensuing carrer, is an attractive option there, as compared to the the option of earning quick money at a major tourist spot. The fields require only so much work, and the kids would be better off learning something for the rest of the time.


So is this a bane of being born a poor family in a tourist place? Yes! The short-term advantage of forcing the child to work for more hours is more obvious than the advantage of the alternative.

I see no practical way by which we can simply ask the people to stop forcing their children to work. Besides, force is never the way.

Me and mom came up with a seemingly simple solution: let them have school for six months. In Jaisalmer, there are no tourists in the summers! From April to around September, its too warm for tourism. Special schools can be run for these children in these months. They can be let off for the rest of the year, possibly with some vacation homework.

The solution would work elsewhere, too. Since most tourist places in India have some "tourist season".

I am sure its too simplistic to not have any feasibility problems, but there could be ways around those problems, too. Not only is finding those ways important for Salim and his kins, but also for the tourists to enjoy their vacation without a tinge of guilt. Asha, AID, anyone listening?

I might table this problem, and possible solutions, at the next AID/Asha meeting. So pour in your solutions! Leave a message down here, or mail me at pulkit_AT_gmail.com.



(Update on facts/statistics:
Majority of the population at Sam and nearby areas is illiterate. Those educated have usually studied till 5th standard. The area is predominantly muslim. Women's rights are often overlooked. Majority is underemplyed/unemployed.)

The dark side of the Sonar Killa

"Ride on this one, sir!"

He looked like a boy of eleven, as he offered me to take a ride on his camel, into the vast sands of Jaisalmer.

camel boy : what's your name?
Me : Pulkit. What's yours?
camel boy : Salim
Me : Salam Salim bhai!

Salim glared back at me. Giving me the first sign that not everything is right in this idyllic place. My smile stuck, nonetheless, not knowing where to go.

I got onto the camel. Bargained with the camel owner, a much older man, for the price. Went on to the first vista point. And thereon, the camel owner left, leaving me and my family with the boys, who walked as we rode the camels deep into the Thar desert.

Sometime later, I garnered enough courage, and a question, to start a conversation.

Me : So which class do you study in?
Salim : I don't study.

I didn't know what to say next. I wasn't shocked. Its just that the question had never had such an answer. I would have usually known if the child I was talking to was not receiving any education.

Given that the starter didn't quite work, I tried to do away with the cheerful pretence, and instead dug deeper.

Me: Why don't you go to school?

No response.

Me: you take people out for rides in the evening, so you can go to school in the morning!
Salim : As if the 'seth' would allow me.

Seth is the boy's caretaker. He pays him for taking people to rides, and taking care of the camels.

Salim : He asks me to give the camel a bath, and give it fodder in the morning. That hardly leaves me with any time to go to school.

I was somewhat relieved that he didn't add "Besides, what would I learn there?". Though the fear of this answer kept me from bringing up a conversation on the importance of education.

What would he learn there?

Back to the circuit house in Jaisalmer, I had a fictitious conversation with Salim in the night.

Salim : Regardless of what I learn there, I would probably end up doing this job all my life. It would make no difference!

Me: At the very minimum, what you would learn about science, history, mathematics, humanities, would broaden your perspective. It would tell you that there is world beyond the dunes of Thar, that there are people with alternative lifestyles.

That there are possibilities beyond being a camel boy. That life is sometimes about making choices, and not following commands.

That you get a say in what you want to be.

It would tell you what it means to be free. Free of your seth. Free of the constraints which force you to walk like a silent, chained being on the sands of the Thar desert.

(to be continued)