The Computational Sublime in Nick Montfort's ‘Round’ and ‘All the Names of God’

CounterText ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Aquilina
Keyword(s):  
Computer Code ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Text Generation ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Literary Space

What if the post-literary also meant that which operates in a literary space (almost) devoid of language as we know it: for instance, a space in which language simply frames the literary or poetic rather than ‘containing’ it? What if the countertextual also meant the (en)countering of literary text with non-textual elements, such as mathematical concepts, or with texts that we would not normally think of as literary, such as computer code? This article addresses these issues in relation to Nick Montfort's #!, a 2014 print collection of poems that presents readers with the output of computer programs as well as the programs themselves, which are designed to operate on principles of text generation regulated by specific constraints. More specifically, it focuses on two works in the collection, ‘Round’ and ‘All the Names of God’, which are read in relation to the notions of the ‘computational sublime’ and the ‘event’.

scholarly journals Regulation of the Smart Contract in (Romanian) Civil Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Raluca Onufreiciuc ◽  
Lorena-Elena Stănescu
Keyword(s):  
Civil Law ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
The Subject

The research aims to organize, examine, and analyze the provisions on smart contracts available in Romanian civil law. “Smart contracts” are not smart, and are not necessarily contracts, although they can be. As self-executing computer programs, smart contracts are operational on the blockchain and unlike traditional legal contracts, once the agreement has been concluded and the smart contract is set in motion, no party can intervene and it will be executed without interruption, modification, or breach. The crucial question in the final contract law topic is what happens when the smart contract's outcomes deviate from those required by law. To answer this issue, we must first understand that whether a smart contract becomes legally enforceable is determined by several circumstances, together with the unique use case, the type of smart contract employed, and the existing legislation. The paper addresses the subject of determining and regulating smart contracts under Romanian current laws. Particular emphasis is placed on two ambiguous definitions of smart contracts: as computer code and as a civil-law contract. The authors conclude that the concept of smart contracts requires more legal regulation, particularly in terms of managing their meaning and comprehension.

Evolution of Cooperative Problem Solving in an Artificial Economy

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2743-2775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric B. Baum ◽  
Igor Durdanovic
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
Problem Domain ◽  
Compact Structure ◽  
State Spaces ◽  
Cooperative Problem Solving ◽  
Hard Problems ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Almost All

We address the problem of how to reinforce learning in ultracomplex environments, with huge state-spaces, where one must learn to exploit a compact structure of the problem domain. The approach we propose is to simulate the evolution of an artificial economy of computer programs. The economy is constructed based on two simple principles so as to assign credit to the individual programs for collaborating on problem solutions. We find empirically that starting from programs that are random computer code, we can develop systems that solve hard problems. In particular, our economy learned to solve almost all random Blocks World problems with goal stacks that are 200 blocks high. Competing methods solve such problems only up to goal stacks of at most 8 blocks. Our economy has also learned to unscramble about half a randomly scrambled Rubik's cube and to solve several commercially sold puzzles.

scholarly journals Anthroponyms and Microtextology of Literary Text

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01203
Author(s):  
Gulshat Zinnatullina
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Literary Space ◽  
Comprehensive Information ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Important Structure

This article deals with the basic types and functions of adjective constructions “accompanying” proper names in the literary text. This article continues research in the field of poetic onomastics. Stories and short novels by canonical Tatar writers such as A. Yeniki, M. Amir and F. Khusni served as a material for research. The object of study is anthroponyms and their immediate environment (appellatives and their combination with proper names). The novelty and topicality of the research can be attributed to the fact that it is the first attempt to study anthroponyms in particular in combination with different appellative constructions. This, in its turn, allows us to consider anthroponyms as an important structure-forming element of the literary space. The research of the onomastic layer of the literary texts, which we chose, enabled us to draw conclusions about the wide use of dependent words (they are often participles and participial constructions) amid anthroponyms. We make an attempt to reveal the peculiarities of the use and functions of such constructions within the framework of this article. It has turned out that they may contain the most significant, comprehensive information on any character. In addition, these combinations serve as vivid expressive means, reflect specificity of the writer’s artistic and creative thinking.

Integration of Activities of Mathematical Education and Language Development in Preschool Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 184-204
Author(s):  
Mirjana M. Stakić ◽  
Sanja M. Maričić
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mathematical Education ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
The World ◽  
And Mathematics

This chapter will explain through concrete examples of literature for children how the same literary text through activities of speech exercises (lexical, semantic, and syntactic), enables their speech development, and contributes to the enrichment of the active lexical fund, and on the other hand, it creates a real context for the development of mathematical concepts. The literary text contributes to the visualization of mathematical concepts, which ensures transition from concrete to abstract concepts and ideas, and mathematical concepts become more acceptable as a result of their clarity and intelligibility. The mentioned activities, in addition to their educational function, build and acquire knowledge that is adopted with understanding in a real context familiar to their concept of the world, give rise to the development of children's imagination, inventiveness, creativity, inquiring mind, and autonomy, and make children grow fond of literature and mathematics from the earliest age.

Computer-Assisted Problem Solving in School Mathematics

1972 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Larry L. Hatfield ◽  
Thomas E. Kieren
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
Computer Usage ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Mathematics Students ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Learning Retention ◽  
Mathematical Performance ◽  
Second Year ◽  
And Control

Computer-assisted problem solving can be characterized by student-generated computer programs used to explore mathematical concepts, principles, and processes. This paper presents a brief rationale for using the computer as an inquiry tool to extend mathematical instruction. 2 investigations are reported in which seventh- and eleventh-grade mathematics students wrote computer programs in the programming language BASIC in their study of selected mathematical content. It was hypothesized that the activity of designing a computer program, studying its output, and refining or “debugging” the algorithm would positively affect mathematical performance. Data were collected on experimental and control Ss over a 2-year period, the second year representing a refinement and replication of the experiment. Comparisons involving criterion measures of learning, retention, and transfer were made using analysis of variance and covariance and item-proportions procedures. Results support this computer usage with selected content, process goals, and student abilities.

Taʾwīl and the Meaning of the Text in the Arabic Language: An Introduction to Understanding the Qur'an

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 337-314
Author(s):  
ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Shāmī
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Arabic Text ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
High Literature

The question of clarifying the meaning of a given Arabic text is a subtle one, especially as high literature texts can often be read in more than one way. Arabic is rich in figurative language and this can lead to variety in meaning, sometimes in ways that either adhere closely or diverge far from the ‘original’ meaning. In order to understand a fine literary text in Arabic, one must have a comprehensive understanding of the issue of taʾwīl, and the concept that multiplicity of meaning does not necessarily lead to contradiction. This article surveys the opinions of various literary critics and scholars of balāgha on this issue with a brief discussion of the concepts of tafsīr and sharḥ, which sometimes overlap with taʾwīl.

Context Mediated

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-63
Author(s):  
Benjamin Pickford
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Ralph Waldo Emerson ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Economic Relation ◽  
Economic Agency

Benjamin Pickford, “Context Mediated: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Political Economy of Plagiarism” (pp. 35–63) Context has long been a critical determiner of methodologies for literary studies, granting scholars the tools to make objective claims about a text’s political or economic relation to the situation of its genesis. This essay argues that Ralph Waldo Emerson anticipatively criticizes our commitment to such practices through his use of plagiarism—a literary mode that exemplifies the denial of the sovereignty of context. I focus on two core principles that underlie Emerson’s conception of literature’s civic role in Essays: Second Series (1844): first, that literature is driven by an impulse to decontextualize; second, that this means that it has a deep affinity with the deterritorializing logic of capital. Provocatively proposing Emerson as a theorist of the relation between literature and economics, I argue that Essays: Second Series shows how the literary text can negotiate its ineluctable culpability with capitalism, but this does not mean that it can presume to possess a privileged point of vantage that might deny such culpability. Given that this is precisely what much historicizing or contextualizing scholarship implies, I contend that Emerson gives us a case study in the limits of literature and criticism’s economic agency.

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