Re: TECH: Mark Shoulson waiting for a taxi

[ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>]

Iain:
> I *think* I see what you're worried about.  It's that there
> might be a specific taxi (or taxis) that Mark is waiting for,
> or on the other hand he might not care.

Yes this is it.

> I use to think that this was the distinction between
>     da poi karcrtaksi zo'u la mark. denpa lo za'i da ba'o klama
> and
>     la mark. denpa lo za'i da poi karcrtaksi zo'u da ba'o klama

This Lojban is too advanced for me.

>     exists(x):  Mark waits for x
>
> means to me that there are some specific thing(s), as far as Mark's
> concerned, which he is waiting for.  Of course, from the outside,
> we needn't have any idea what they are, so externally they're
> non-specific, but Mark knows what's what.

If you are right here - & I am not competent to judge - then I will
have to rethink everything I've been saying, for I had thought
exactly the contrary. If your example is non-specific, then I
guess it would be negated by (or false if):
   not exists(x): Mark waits for x
while if x is specific, then the negation/falsification is:
   exists(x): not Mark waits for x
And I would normally understand the former to be the normal
negation of the quantifier.

But I am out of my depth here, and should cede the field to those
who eat lambda calculus for breakfast (along with their 3 shredded
wheat [culture-specific reference: a pity there's no .UI to
mark this]).

----
And