It's useful when someone asks things like "will machines ever be able to think?"
And you might say "well, define 'think' ". In other words, that's not that interesting a question, since it is more about semantics than about reality.
Or you say it as Djykstra did, which I think is pretty clever.
And yes, your example about how words differ in different languages does a good job of explaining how this is just semantics. If a question becomes moot in a different language, it is a good indicator that the question is less about reality than it is about semantics.
And you might say "well, define 'think' ". In other words, that's not that interesting a question, since it is more about semantics than about reality.
Or you say it as Djykstra did, which I think is pretty clever.
And yes, your example about how words differ in different languages does a good job of explaining how this is just semantics. If a question becomes moot in a different language, it is a good indicator that the question is less about reality than it is about semantics.
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