How webs of meaning grow and change — LessWrong

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The world of design has this word "affordance" which I really like. To oversimplify, the affordances of an object are the potential uses that it is particularly apt for. A glass jar doesn't really afford being able to write, but a pencil does. Affordance is a really useful idea to contrast with that of purpose. Anything that is designed has a purpose, an intended use case conceived of in the mind of the designer. Though it makes total sense to say that things have purposes, it's important to not forget that purpose is a relationship between a designer and the object. What's cool is that the purpose of any object is always going to be a subset of what that object affords. Chairs are for sitting, but they also are great for standing on to change a light bulb. Yes, that's what a step-ladder is for, but there are no purpose goblins that will prevent you from using a chair instead. Condoms were not made to be used for sous vide, and yet... No matter what purpose you build with, as soon as y

x How webs of meaning grow and change — LessWrong Aesthetics Truth, Semantics, & Meaning Philosophy of Language Writing (communication method) Rationality World Modeling Frontpage 14 How webs of meaning grow and change by Hazard 14th Aug 2020 12 min read 0 14 The Place of Purpose The world of design has this word " affordance " which I really like. To oversimplify, the affordances of an object are the potential uses that it is particularly apt for. A glass jar doesn't really afford being able to write, but a pencil does. Affordance is a really useful idea to contrast with that of purpose . Any

How webs of meaning grow and change — LessWrong

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