3 ms·

It’s derived from the Latin word for seed, hence referring to an idea that is fruitful. It seems an apt metaphor to me, and I don’t understand how it can be con

It’s derived from the Latin word for seed, hence referring to an idea that is fruitful. It seems an apt metaphor to me, and I don’t understand how it can be considered sexist. Do you also consider the word seminar to be sexist?

panarky 8y ago
If you mean "fruitful", then what's wrong with saying that? Maybe because "fruitful", like "seminal", is imprecise and inapt in the context of deep-learning research papers. More precise terms might be "canonical" or "foundational" or "popular" or "influential" or "groundbreaking". How is "fruitful" or "seminal" more precise or evocative than these? As for the inherent sexism, how many women would prefer their research to be called "seminal" instead of "influential"?
- gdy 8y ago
  >As for the inherent sexism, how many women would prefer their research to be called "seminal" instead of "influential"? You seem to imply that you know the answer. So how many?
- gumby 8y ago
  > Maybe because "fruitful", like "seminal", is imprecise ... More precise terms might be "canonical" or "foundational" or "popular" or "influential" or "groundbreaking". These all mean different things though: are you seeding the ground (seminal) or did you flow through subsequent work like a river (influential) or perhaps you begin work to actually build something (groundbreaking) or maybe people liked it regardless of inherent value or lack thereof (popular) or perhaps the paper laid out a corpus that an enormous amount of subsequent work turns out to have been built upon (foundational). Seminal is perfectly reasonable given the way machine learning is spreading (huge numbers of papers on various topics from which grow various branches that interact).
- DoctorOetker 8y ago
  Don't forget to rename the sine and cosine. Draw a circle with its centre, looks a bit like a titty no? Now draw a slanted line from the center intersecting with the circle, the vertical and the horizontal deflection are the sine and cosine for this angle. Now plot the sine as a function of angle. Looks like hanging boobies no? Sinus = breast, bossom, tits, ... . Now plot the co-sine function... looks like breasts again, ... but the other kind of breasts. So co-titties... or co-sine... Then there's tangents, ... touching the breasts...
  - mlevental 8y ago
    lol I had to look this up but it turns out to be true https://www.etymonline.com/word/sinus#etymonline_v_23566 https://www.etymonline.com/word/sinus#etymonline_v_23566

panarky 8y ago

If you mean "fruitful", then what's wrong with saying that? Maybe because "fruitful", like "seminal", is imprecise and inapt in the context of deep-learning research papers. More precise terms might be "canonical" or "foundational" or "popular" or "influential" or "groundbreaking". How is "fruitful" or "seminal" more precise or evocative than these? As for the inherent sexism, how many women would prefer their research to be called "seminal" instead of "influential"?

gdy 8y ago
>As for the inherent sexism, how many women would prefer their research to be called "seminal" instead of "influential"? You seem to imply that you know the answer. So how many?
gumby 8y ago
> Maybe because "fruitful", like "seminal", is imprecise ... More precise terms might be "canonical" or "foundational" or "popular" or "influential" or "groundbreaking". These all mean different things though: are you seeding the ground (seminal) or did you flow through subsequent work like a river (influential) or perhaps you begin work to actually build something (groundbreaking) or maybe people liked it regardless of inherent value or lack thereof (popular) or perhaps the paper laid out a corpus that an enormous amount of subsequent work turns out to have been built upon (foundational). Seminal is perfectly reasonable given the way machine learning is spreading (huge numbers of papers on various topics from which grow various branches that interact).
DoctorOetker 8y ago
Don't forget to rename the sine and cosine. Draw a circle with its centre, looks a bit like a titty no? Now draw a slanted line from the center intersecting with the circle, the vertical and the horizontal deflection are the sine and cosine for this angle. Now plot the sine as a function of angle. Looks like hanging boobies no? Sinus = breast, bossom, tits, ... . Now plot the co-sine function... looks like breasts again, ... but the other kind of breasts. So co-titties... or co-sine... Then there's tangents, ... touching the breasts...
- mlevental 8y ago
  lol I had to look this up but it turns out to be true https://www.etymonline.com/word/sinus#etymonline_v_23566 https://www.etymonline.com/word/sinus#etymonline_v_23566