On Tue, 01 May 2001 08:43:43 GMT, Cristian Fabbi <fabbic@galactica.it> wrote:
>Soon I've read that neural system made with FL think like humans (i'm
>summarizing).
>Why do we say so? Have we got proofs that human brain works in a fuzzy way?
Christian,
Your confusion comes from the well-known problem associated with the term
"fuzzy". When applied to fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic and fuzzy system models the
term means "uncertainty". Let me back up and explain.
When we measure something in the natural world (human or non-human), there
are two sources of potential error: imprecision and uncertainty. Imprecision
comes from our inability to measure something with absolute accuracy, for
example, the temperature of soils or the intelligence of humans. On the
other hand, we encounter uncertainty -- or fuzziness -- when describing soil
temperatures or human intelligence.
Consider what we mean by "warm", "cool", "smart" and "dumb". These terms
describe a relative condition that is a function of what we are measuring,
and they can mean different things to different people or under different
circumstances. It is this latter situation -- uncertainty in the meaning of
descriptive terms -- that we quantify in fuzzy sets, manipulate using fuzzy
logic and apply to real-world problems with fuzzy system models.
As Lotfi Zadeh explained, the term "fuzzy" is not the best to use, but was
chosen for what seemed, at that time, to be a good reason. Think of it as
the inherent "sloppyness" of a system, not of our measurements of the
system.
For your original question, the answer is "yes", humans think in fuzzy
terms. We talk of "steep" slopes, "high speed" railroad systems, "tall" and
"short" people. These are imprecise terms that describe characteristics of
the system we're considering.
HTH,
Rich
-- Dr. Richard B. Shepard, PresidentApplied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM) 2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A. + 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
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