On Sun, 15 Jan 2006, Paul A. Rubin wrote:
I noticed the reference to fuzzy logic in your sig. I take it you do a lot of work for the government? :-) As I recall, fuzzy logic is built on fuzzy truth: true; false; sort of true; true enough to fool the voters; ...
/Paul, The last part of your message refers to politics as usual. There's a historical reason why the names are "fuzzy sets" and "fuzzy logic", just as there's a historical reason why the OS was named UNIX instead of something else. Think "fuzzy" as in "vague," "inherently imprecise," "multi-valued." Multi-valued logic was conceived by Bertrand Russell in the 1920s but never got traction on the muddy slopes of academia. In 1965, Lotfi Zadeh at Cal Berkeley, defined the mathematics of multi-valued sets and called them "fuzzy sets" to distinguish them from "crisp sets" where membership is all or nothing. No longer a need to exclude the middle. Similarly, with fuzzy logic, AND does not need to be inclusive and OR does not need to be exclusive. Practical applications were developed first by the Japanese: autofocus cameras, image stabilization, auto-pilots for airplanes, trains that run without human drivers (e.g., Atlanta airport). More quietly, it's used to solve otherwise intractable business problems. We use it to address environmental impact assessments, measure sustainability, quantify natural resource damage assessments, and similar concerns. Most of our work is with the natural resource industries. We'll work for government agencies on quantifying subjectivity in the environmental regulatory contexts, but not advocating against industrial development. More information is on our web site (URL below). Other applications of fuzzy logic are in game theory (economics), optimal scheduling, multi-criteria/multi-objective decision-making, and other domains dominated by values, beliefs, and opinions; in other words, subjectivity. Rich -- Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D. | Author of "Quantifying Environmental Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM) | Impact Assessments Using Fuzzy Logic" <http://www.appl-ecosys.com> Voice: 503-667-4517 Fax: 503-667-8863
