Book: oksimo.R – Editor and simulator for theories

eJournal: uffmm.org
ISSN 2567-6458, 10.November 2022 – 27. February 2023
Email: info@uffmm.org
Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch
Email: gerd@doeben-henisch.de

CONTEXT

The English translation from the German source is partially generated with the www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version).

Main Text: oksimo.R Editor and Simulator for Theories …

(Last change: 27.January 2023)

Brief Description of the Book

(Last change: 6.November 2022)

When it comes ‘to the oath’, when it is the task of creating descriptions of the world which are ‘verifiable’ by others, and which allow ‘verifiable predictions/conclusions’, then there is so far in the cultural history of mankind only one format known that makes this possible, the format of an ‘Empirical Theory’. If you try to look up the term ‘Empirical Theory’ in the German or English Wikipedia, you will be disappointed: this term does not exist there (as of November 10, 2022). This should cause astonishment, because it is so far the only and hardest criterion for a ‘truthful theory’ found in the last thousands of years. There are endless articles and books on this subject.

However, it is also part of the truth that the formats of texts that have become known so far with the claim to realize a verifiable empirical theory ultimately work with a so-called ‘formalization’, i.e. the language of logic and mathematics is used. One consequence of this is that the amount of possible readers and users of such theories is severely limited by this language alone. This is a major disadvantage, since it effectively ‘locks out’ the majority of citizens in a society.

But scientists themselves have a problem too: for formalized empirical theories, there is no supporting software that allows the text of a theory to be checked ‘with the push of a button’ at any time in the form of a simulation. Although there are — partly highly complex — simulation programs for support, these are not theories as such, but only algorithms and have to be laboriously created alongside the theory itself. If the text of the theory changes, such a change must be transferred laboriously into the algorithm. In general: an algorithm is a ‘function’ which is neither true nor false; a theory is a ‘statement’ which as such can be true or false (or it can stay ‘undefined’ with regard to ‘truth’ or ‘falsehood’).

After many years of research — since about the mid 1980s and then experimentally for about four years — an approach has emerged which puts the concept of a testable empirical theory at the center, and takes as the starting language for an empirical description of the world the ‘normal language of everyday life’ (any is possible). This language can be ‘extended’ at will (which is common in science), but instead of virtually ‘throwing away’ the everyday language after the extension, in the new approach the everyday language is not thrown away but remains the main language.

This new approach — labeled with the acronym ‘oksimo.R’ [1] — enables the users — every kind of citizens — to write down a text which automatically represents everything known from — even formalized — theories. Above all: every citizen can read and understand texts written in the oksimo.R format normally. Every text in the oksimo.R format is automatically equivalent to a full empirical theory, even if the authors — arbitrary citizens — do not know exactly what an empirical theory is. Furthermore: at the push of a button, any theory in the oksimo.R format can be run as a ‘simulation’, where the term ‘simulation’ is very concrete here: the core of the simulation is formed by an ‘inference concept’, which computes the respective possible ‘continuations’ (= ‘inferences’) from given ‘world descriptions’ extended by possible ‘changes’, and this not only once, but ‘again and again’, until this inference process is stopped on the basis of a given criterion. Since every inference is linked to an empirical truth claim, every inference can also be checked for its empirical validity.

While up to now formalized empirical theories are very difficult to compare or even to ‘unify’, this is no problem for empirical theories in the oksimo.R format: one can unify arbitrary empirical theories in the oksimo.R format ‘at the push of a button’ to one text only and one can then directly view its effects by simulation. Of course, actual ‘interactions’ between the different ‘theory parts’ only arise if there are ‘linguistic points of contact’. But exactly this can be seen immediately with a unified simulation: Either there are no interactions at all or you detect some interactions. These ‘some interactions’ can be analyzed further with regard to the question, what interacts and how.

By the way, all forms of artificial intelligence (ai) in the format of ‘machine learning (ML)’ known today — which usually represent very simple algorithms and which are in addition extremely dependent on a formulated task — can be used fruitfully in the context of an oksimo.R theory text by using these AI algorithms to search the ‘state space’ of possible conclusions for possible optimizations.

Furthermore, one can arbitrarily extend the empirical references to the real world through appropriate sensor technology and data connections (e.g., IoT), all in ‘web real-time’.

Additionally, one can link any server with an oksimo.R theory to any other web application.

Instead of ‘only’ developing and testing theories, oksimo.R theories can also be used to control processes or as training and text environments. Even (online) games are possible.

This opens up interesting possibilities for a new level in people’s ‘collective knowledge’ that goes beyond mere ‘text sets’.

COMMENTS

[1] The acronym ‘oksimo.R’ points back to a language project called ‘oksimo’ (‘open knowledge simulation modeling’), which has been documented a little bit in the German wikipedia ( https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oksimo ). This project initiated by Gerd Doeben-Henisch had been 2009 stopped by him despite a great public awareness because of lack of resources. The ‘new oksimo’ as ‘oksimo.R’ means ‘oksimo reloaded’; it has somehow a similar intention but is designed with a completely different internal structure. It does not produce ‘algorithms’, it does produce ‘theories’.

LOGIC. The Theory Of Inquiry (1938) by John Dewey – An oksimo Review – Part 1

eJournal: uffmm.org, ISSN 2567-6458, Aug 16 -Aug 18, 2021
Email: info@uffmm.org
Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch
Email: gerd@doeben-henisch.de

SCOPE

In the uffmm review section the different papers and books are discussed from the point of view of the oksimo paradigm. [2] Here the author reads the book “Logic. The Theory Of Inquiry” by John Dewey, 1938. [1]

PREFACE DEWEY 1938/9

If one looks to the time span between Dewey’s first published book  from 1887 (Psychology)  until 1938 (Logic) we have 51 years of experience.  Thus this book about logic can be seen as a book digesting a manifold knowledge from a very special point of view: from Logic as a theory of inquiry.

And because Dewey  is qualified as one of the “primary figures associated with the philosophy of pragmatism” [3] it is of no surprise that he in his preface to the book ‘Logic …’ [1] mentions not only as one interest the ” … interpretation of the forms and formal relations that constitute the standard material of logical tradition”(cf. p.1), but within this perspective he underlines the attention   particularly to  “…  the principle of the continuum of inquiry”(cf. p.1).

If one sees like Dewey the “basic conception of inquiry” as the “determination of an indeterminate situation” (cf. p.1)  then the implicit relations can enable  “a coherent account of the different propositional forms to be given”. This provides a theoretical interface to logical thinking as thinking in inferences as well as an philosophical interface to pragmatism as a kind of inquiry which sees strong relations between the triggering assumptions and the possible consequences created by agreed procedures leading from the given and expected to the final consequences.

Dewey himself is very skeptical about the term ‘Pragmatism’, because
“… the word lends itself [perhaps]  to misconception”, thus  “that it seemed advisable to avoid its use.” (cf. p.2) But Dewey does not stay with a simple avoidance;  he gives a “proper interpretation”  of the term ‘pragmatic’ in the way that “the function of consequences” can be interpreted as “necessary tests of the validity of propositions, provided these consequences are operationally instituted and are such as to resolve the specific problem evoking the operations.”(cf. p.2)

Thus Dewey assumes the following elements of a pragmatic minded process of inquiry:

  1. A pragmatic inquiry is a process leading to some consequences.
  2. These consequences can be seen as tests of the validity of propositions.
  3. As a necessary condition that a consequence can be qualified as a test of assumed propositions one has to assume  that “these consequences are operationally instituted and are such as to resolve the specific problem”.
  4. That consequences, which are different to the assumed propositions [represented by some expressions]  can be qualified as confirming an assumed validity of the assumed propositions, requires that the assumed validity can be represented as an expectation of possible outcomes which are observably decidable.

In other words: some researchers are assuming that some propositions represented by some expressions are valid, because they are convinced about this by their commonly shared observations of the propositions. They associate these assumed propositions with an expected outcome  represented by some expressions which can be interpreted by the researchers in a way, that they are able to decide whether an upcoming situation can be judged as that situation which is expected as a valid outcome (= consequence). Then there must exist some agreed procedures (operationally instituted) whose application to the given starting situation produces the expected outcome (=consequences). Then the whole process of a start situation with an given expectation as well as given procedures can generate a sequence of situations following one another with an expected outcome after finitely many situation.

If one interprets these agreed procedures as inference rules and the assumed expressions as assumptions and expectations then the whole figure can be embedded in the usual pattern of inferential logic, but with some strong extensions.

Dewey is quite optimistic about the conformity of this pragmatic view of an inquiry and a view of logic: “I am convinced that acceptance of the general principles set forth will enable a more complete and consistent set of symbolizations than now exists to be made.”(cf. p.2) But he points to one aspect, which would be necessary for a pragmatically  inspired view of logic which is in ‘normal logic’ not yet realized: “the need for development of a general theory of language in which form and matter are not separated.” This is a very strong point because the architecture of modern logic is fundamentally depending on the complete abandonment of meaning of language; the only remaining shadow of meaning resides in  the assumptions of the property of being ‘true’ or ‘false’ related to expressions (not propositions!). To re-introduce ‘meaning’ into logic by the usage of ‘normal language’ would be a complete rewriting of the whole of modern logic.

At the time of writing these lines by Dewey 1938 there was not the faintest idea in logic how such a rewriting of the whole logic could look like.

With the new oksimo paradigm there could perhaps exist a slight chance to do it. Why? Here are the main arguments:

  1. The oksimo paradigm assumes an inference process leading from some assumed starting situation to some consequences generated by the application of some agreed change-rules.
  2. All situations are assumed to have a twofold nature: (i) primarily they are given as expressions of some language (it can be a normal language!); (ii) secondarily these expressions are part of the used normal language, where every researches is assumed to have a ‘built-in’ meaning function which has during his/her individual learning collected enough ‘meaning’, which allows  a symbolically  enabled cooperation with other researchers.
  3. Every researcher can judge every time whether a given or inferred situation is in agreement with his interpretation of the expressions and their relation to the given or considered possible situation.
  4. If the researchers assume in the beginning additionally an expectation (goal/ vision) of a possible outcome (possible consequence), then it is possible at every point of the sequence to judge to which degree the actual situation corresponds to the expected situation.

The second requirement of Dewey for the usage of logic for a pragmatic inquiry was given in the statement  “that an adequate set of symbols depends upon prior institution of valid ideas of the conceptions and relations that are symbolized.”(cf. p.2)

Thus not only the usage of normal language is required but also some presupposed knowledge.  Within the oksimo paradigm it is possible to assume as much presupposed knowledge as needed.

RESULTS SO FAR

After reading the preface to the book it seems that the pragmatic view of inquiry combined with some  idea of modern logic can directly be realized within the oksimo paradigm.

The following posts will show whether this is a good working hypothesis or not.

COMMENTS

[1] John Dewey, Logic. The Theory Of Inquiry, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1938  (see: https://archive.org/details/JohnDeweyLogicTheTheoryOfInquiry with several formats; I am using the kindle (= mobi) format: https://archive.org/download/JohnDeweyLogicTheTheoryOfInquiry/%5BJohn_Dewey%5D_Logic_-_The_Theory_of_Inquiry.mobi . This is for the direct work with a text very convenient.  Additionally I am using a free reader ‘foliate’ under ubuntu 20.04: https://github.com/johnfactotum/foliate/releases/). The page numbers in the text of the review — like (p.13) — are the page numbers of the ebook as indicated in the ebook-reader foliate.(There exists no kindle-version for linux (although amazon couldn’t work without linux servers!))

[2] Gerd Doeben-Henisch, 2021, uffmm.org, THE OKSIMO PARADIGM
An Introduction (Version 2), https://www.uffmm.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/oksimo-v1-part1-v2.pdf

[3] John Dewey, Wikipedia [EN]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey

Continuation

See part 2 HERE.

MEDIA

Here some spontaneous recording of the author, talking ‘unplugged’ into a microphone how he would describe the content of the text above in a few words. It’s not perfect, but it’s ‘real’: we all are real persons not being perfect, but we have to fight for ‘truth’ and a better life while being ‘imperfect’ …. take it as ‘fun’ 🙂