Re: CHAT: OT CHAT: Pascal's Wager

Kala Tunu writes:
 > i read this post this morning and couldn't resist the challenge :-)
 > no interlinear here because i doubt anyone would care. i still think it's useful
 > to take up such challenge to show that conlangs may feature enough grammar and
 > vocabulary and conlangers master them enough to translate or write abstract
 > texts. Tunu already has all concepts needed to translate the text below---no new
 > word coined but i couldn't make up my mind on *which* vocabulary to use: for
 > instance |numi| means "think",  |homa| means "think something to be such without
 > a specific clue", |halu| means "infer from a clue", etc. i kept Tim's impetuous
 > flow of ideas as unchanged as possible although Tunu would rather isolate
 > different ideas into different sentences. i still had to disambiguate the vague
 > english pronouns "this", "it", "which", etc. Tunu also turns english phrases
 > like "to believe God's high probability of existence" into phrases like "to
 > believe that the (following) fact that God exists has a high rate of chance".
 >
 > Tim May <butsuri@...> wrote:
 > >>>
 > This really has no relevence to conlanging now, but if anyone can
 > translate my paragraphs above into a conlang, I'll be very impressed.
 > >>>
 > Well, sure, although it kind of ignores the rest of what I said. Anyway, that's
 > a fairly accurate portrayal of the situation, but I dan't think it's what Pascal
 > meant (I confess I've never read his original argument, only various
 > recapitulations of it).  As I understand it, the original wager involves betting
 > that there either is, or is not a God, and he points out that (for a certain set
 > of circumstances) it makes sense probabilistically to bet that there is (see the
 > other part of my original post).  I don't think it takes multiple religions into
 > account (not that it would matter, as long as you assume that the afterlife
 > isn't worse for members of any religion
 > than it is for atheists, which probably seemed more reasonable to Pascal than it
 > does to me). Note, anyway, I'm not suggesting that Pascal's conclusion applies
 > in
 > reverse, which would mean you're better off betting there is not a God, no
 > matter how high a probability you assign to His existence.  I think you're best
 > of going with whatever you think is most likely, based on your interpretation of
 > the evidence.  (Which is what everyone does, anyhow, or thinks they do.)  You
 > might weigh them according to the possibility of an infinite reward in the
 > afterlife, but this depends on your idea of the most probable means used by God
 > (if he exists) to assign rewards to the dead.
 > <<<
 > Kame apima uyataipangache hela kama ikami atoli chakanyang. Kame ataichiti pilu
 > pihi wamata nete wikami akela maihoma ikame alaikama iPascal atoli tainimeng
 > (wikami ataihali ikami akela chama toli hapu temu heli yokama ayupiku napa
 > temutemu chopeng.) Kami apailuma iPascal ukali ataitota mali time kule Tana
 > wiPascal ataitile itota mali iTana amaikule ayachuka mainimi omaho mali waukune
 > kote mitumitu (pula ikite tingipi nopa mele kami yakali.) Kami akela homa itota
 > mali yakame apaitule kana huno tana (wikame amongona watumi pilu ikamu apano
 > taihalu ipehi pame pengehi akela chuka lingiha emuli kungune huno tana umeki
 > etaka nangati kule tana wiPascal achuka paimehu kame awamaimala mali ayumeki
 > ikami apai.) Uhali kame aipula ipaitile ikami akela taichipa kamo iPascal
 > ataikitu wakame kita ayachokinya taitecha ikamu amoli taitota iTana akela
 > maikule upangache kamo itime iTana akule ayamaimali yapani mala. Kami ahoma
 > ikamu amoli hailana kune maho ikamu ataimehunya tomo mala mali omaho kama ikamu
 > ahomanyo chipachipa. (Uketa pilu aikami ahoma iketa tataka amaikame heme wapelo
 > kakama ahoma mai.) Kamu apone taimeti kame chipachipa walana imeli yupame
 > pengehi ayapone aningihe wikame amaikope kamo ikamu ataihalu iTana ataimelinye
 > tataka pengehi owapani tama (upilu i Tana akule.)
 >
 > Mathias
 > http://takatunu.free.fr/tunugram.htm

Wonderful... I really didn't expect anyone to translate it, but I got
2 responses.  "impetuous flow of ideas" is a very diplomatic was to
describe the verbose style I tend to adopt when unconstrained (was it
Pascal who once ended a letter with "I've only made this long because
I didn't have time to make it short" or something of the kind?).  I'm
going to keep these two translations.

Incidentally, I've started looking at the Tunu grammar, which is very
interesting. ("Toire Otearai", indeed!)  Previously for some reason
I'd only looked at the old page
http://members.aol.com/manishtusu/tunu.html which appears to be
considerably out of date.

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