There is a lot of anthropomorhpising* which goes on in the discussion group, for example "The DFT assumes N samples at the input" or "the decimation filter ensures that alias frequencies cannot be seen by the downsampler". I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more of a bell-curve than a delta-function". Answers on a postcard... Porterboy ------------------------------ * Wikipedia -- Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopoeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, the unseen author of things, and others.
OT: Anthropomorphism
Started by ●June 23, 2005
Reply by ●June 23, 20052005-06-23
porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:> There is a lot of anthropomorhpising* which goes on in the discussion > group, for example "The DFT assumes N samples at the input" or "the > decimation filter ensures that alias frequencies cannot be seen by the > downsampler". > > I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, > whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That > lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more > of a bell-curve than a delta-function".Uh... the term "nerd humor" comes to mind...> Answers on a postcard... > Porterboy > > ------------------------------ > * Wikipedia -- Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or > prosopopoeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate > objects, animals, forces of nature, the unseen author of things, and > others.
Reply by ●June 23, 20052005-06-23
Oh, boy!>I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, >whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That >lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more >of a bell-curve than a delta-function".I guess, thats when you get called a geek. I long abandoned such predilections when folks around me started looking at me in a strange sort of way. Ofcourse such musings can find more sympathetic hearing in the company fellow geeks(like here at comp.dsp?)from similar engineering domains. People from dissimilar domains engaging in such conversation is always amusing albeit will go a long way to enhance the engineering reputation of "given to goa-tee stroking". Cant help recall an old school time joke: The librarian in our high school was one of the strictest varieties around. He was always entrusted with conducting the nasty duty of dishing our corporal punishments to the erring students (and I suspect he had a whale of a timme doing it as well).One of his other(!)prime duty was to collect the library books lent out.I once over heard him tell a colleague of his -- a physics professor -- to "submit the 100 bucks he borrowed the week next" only to be replied that the "100 bucks had greater gravity than he originally imagined" and expecting the same next week simply "cognitive illusion"! There you go, a post card. --Bhooshan> >Answers on a postcard... >PorterboyThis message was sent using the Comp.DSP web interface on www.DSPRelated.com
Reply by ●June 23, 20052005-06-23
porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:> I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, > whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That > lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more > of a bell-curve than a delta-function". >I sometimes say that someone "went non-linear." I'll leave it to you to decide whan that would be appropriate. My boss doesn't like it when I tell him that I'm asymptotically approaching project completion. -- Jim Thomas Principal Applications Engineer Bittware, Inc jthomas@bittware.com http://www.bittware.com (603) 226-0404 x536 Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery - Calvin
Reply by ●June 23, 20052005-06-23
Jim Thomas wrote:> porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote: > >> I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, >> whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg.I just remembered another one I've heard: "That guy has a couple of poles outside the unit circle." -- Jim Thomas Principal Applications Engineer Bittware, Inc jthomas@bittware.com http://www.bittware.com (603) 226-0404 x536 Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery - Calvin
Reply by ●June 23, 20052005-06-23
in article 11blr3c9c9v4d7@corp.supernews.com, Jim Thomas at jthomas@bittware.com wrote on 06/23/2005 13:07:> Jim Thomas wrote: >> porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote: >> >>> I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, >>> whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. > > I just remembered another one I've heard: "That guy has a couple of > poles outside the unit circle."that one is worthy of remembering. i had a couple of my poles move outside the unit circle on Dec 12, 2000. good thing i don't own any guns. -- r b-j rbj@audioimagination.com "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Reply by ●June 24, 20052005-06-24
porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:> There is a lot of anthropomorhpising* which goes on in the discussion > group, for example "The DFT assumes N samples at the input" or "the > decimation filter ensures that alias frequencies cannot be seen by the > downsampler". > > I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, > whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That > lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more > of a bell-curve than a delta-function". > > Answers on a postcard... > Porterboy >Postcard from picturesque Herefordshire :-) When I used to work developing sonar one of the installers was described as an "uncorrelated noise source". Ian
Reply by ●June 24, 20052005-06-24
"Ian" <ian_okey@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1119597797.911922.231930@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...> > > porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote: >> There is a lot of anthropomorhpising* which goes on in the discussion >> group, for example "The DFT assumes N samples at the input" or "the >> decimation filter ensures that alias frequencies cannot be seen by the >> downsampler". >> >> I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, >> whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That >> lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more >> of a bell-curve than a delta-function". >> >> Answers on a postcard... >> PorterboyVery often used: "He/she uses too much bandwidth" .... meaning that they talk too much and usually with too little information content. "He/she is "high maintenance" .... meaning that they cause too much unnecessary commotion, human effort, psychic energy, etc. "We're burning daylight" .... meaning that time is passing as we fumble about. "He/she is one card short of a full deck" Fred
Reply by ●June 25, 20052005-06-25
porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:> I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to > anthropomorhism, whereby inanimate characteristics > are contributed to humansI think the converse word is "mechanicism", as defined here: http://www.imprint.co.uk/thesaurus/mechanicism.htm "MECHANICISM A biological outlook which asserts that the only factors operating in the organization of living systems are physical factors, and that no non-material vital organizing force is necessary." Actually this is not the meaning you imply in your original post, but it has a pleasantly parallel point of view. Note, though, that if we trust Merriam-Webster, the correct word is "mechanism": http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=mechanism "Mechanism, n: (...) 3 : a doctrine that holds natural processes (as of life) to be mechanically determined and capable of complete explanation by the laws of physics and chemistry" For some very fun and interesting reading (actually one of the best pieces of philosofical/psychological reading I've ever had) have a look at the Jargon File: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/anthropomorphization.html I am a "mechanist" myself, in a more relaxed way. I feel certain that at least most of our choices, acts, feelings and desires are actually a consequence of our hormones and instincts, where instincts are nothing but presets on the neural network we call our brain.> eg. "That > lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more > of a bell-curve than a delta-function".Most probably, this might as well be called a "mechanism" or "mechanicism", since it attributes _machine_ qualities to humans; even though the meaning here is not quite the same as before.
Reply by ●June 26, 20052005-06-26
On 23 Jun 2005 01:04:22 -0700, porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:>There is a lot of anthropomorhpising* which goes on in the discussion >group, for example "The DFT assumes N samples at the input" or "the >decimation filter ensures that alias frequencies cannot be seen by the >downsampler". > >I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, >whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. "That >lecturer has a very low SNR" or "her auto-correlation function is more >of a bell-curve than a delta-function".I read the other responses, saw the one with mechanicism/mechanism, let the thread percolate* a few minutes, and the word mechanomorphism came to mind. Suspecting I'm not the first to think of it, I Googled for it and found these pages - a very short definition here: http://www.kli.ac.at/theorylab/Keyword/M/mechanomorphism.html a definition I think is much too narrow here: http://lostpagesfoundpages.blogspot.com/2004/09/words.html and this text that seems to be just about a perfect example of what the OP is describing and asking about: http://www.nd.edu/~ndr/issues/ndr6/scheller/scheller3.html>Answers on a postcard...Scan and OCR this postcard so you can click on the links instead of typing them into your browser.>Porterboy* For those of us old enough to remember coffee percolators - Would my use of the word 'percolate' be coffemorphism?>------------------------------ >* Wikipedia -- Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or >prosopopoeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate >objects, animals, forces of nature, the unseen author of things, and >others.----- http://www.mindspring.com/~benbradley
