COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	ambigu[s87,jmc]		Ambiguity tolerance
C00004 ENDMK
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ambigu[s87,jmc]		Ambiguity tolerance

Someone in Paris pointed out to me the ambiguity of the word ``book''
which can mean either a particular copy of the book or its text.  We
also have ``John wanted to write a book'', which doesn't specify
the existence of a particular book John wanted to write.  This

There are two possible reactions to this kind of ambiguity in an AI
system.  The first
is to regard it as similar to a homonym as in ``lock on a door''
and ``a lock of hair'' and use different terms for the two.  It isn't
clear that this won't work; it depends on there not being an
indefinite collection of senses to be distinguished.  The second
is to have only one atom $'book$ and apply operators to get the
various senses.  This is then to be sugared by {\it ambiguity tolerance}.
Let's pursue the latter.