[CS] CS Wednesday Noon Talk March 28 by Erik Thomsen: "Unifying Syntax and Semantics: From the historical rift between Russell and Wittgenstein and the present day gap between the predicate calculus and lexical analysis to its impact on NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming)"

[Paula Harmon]

TITLE: "Unifying Syntax and Semantics: From the historical rift between 
Russell and Wittgenstein and the present day gap between the predicate 
calculus and lexical analysis to its impact on NLP (Neuro-linguistic 
programming)"

BY: Erik Thomsen, founder of DSS Labs and Hampshire student in the past.

ABSTRACT: Thousands of person-years of effort have failed to produce a 
robust NLP system using the consensus foundations consisting of
- The predicate calculus (with the possible addition of frames a la Cyc) 
as a logical method for representing (and reasoning with) the semantics 
of the sentence, and
- Lexical/syntactic categories (e.g., noun, verb, adjective, article 
etc.) as a linguistic method for representing the atomic functions (or 
terminal nodes) that attach to words.
Maybe the foundations are misguided. Maybe there is no fundamental 
distinction between syntax and semantics. Maybe they're like Hesperus 
and Phosphorus.

In this talk I will share some of my research and real world application 
stories suggesting that syntax and semantics are one and the same. 
Towards that end, significant problems will be raised regarding the 
predicate calculus, a new logic based on cognitive processing will be 
introduced, and examples showing how it can impact NLP will be given.

BIO Statement: Erik Thomsen is a researcher and architect for 
intelligent information systems and their logical foundations. DSS 
(Decision Support Systems) Lab was founded in 1999 by Erik Thomsen and 
George Spofford, two internationally recognized pioneers in business 
intelligence 'BI', and decision support systems 'DSS' (also called 
performance management). Our mission is to make best use of available 
technologies to provide our clients with long lasting information 
solutions they can trust. If the right technology exists off the shelf, 
we use it. If we need to work with different pieces of technology to 
solve our client's problem, we do so. And if a needed technology doesn't 
exist, we will try to invent it, or reach into our network for those who 
can. Which is why we are heavily invested in research and collaboration. 
These days we are very involved in the cognitive problems of 
interpretation, representation, belief management and analysis.
DSS Lab website: http://www.dsslab.com/

-- 
Paula Harmon, Administrative Assistant
School of Cognitive Science
Hampshire College
893 West Street Amherst, MA 01002
phone: 413.559.5502
fax: 413.559.5438
http://cs.hampshire.edu
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