News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize machine learning.

Re:A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize m... by Houshalter on Saturday October 01, 2016 @05:20PM (#12619936)
Extremely trivial pet peeve, but I hate the word "democratize". In what way does this introduce a democratic voting system to AI? Why do they use this word? Because it summons vague positive connotations people have with "democracy"?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize m... by inlineint on Saturday October 01, 2016 @05:23PM (#12619947)
"Democratize" word meanings from the Oxford dictionary:

1) introduce a democratic system or democratic principles to: public institutions need to be democratized.

2) make (something) accessible to everyone: mass production has not democratized fashion.

The second one seems to be exactly what they say about their system.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize m... by Houshalter on Saturday October 01, 2016 @11:15PM (#12620905)
Yes I know they aren't the first person to use the word that way, it still bothers me. I didn't know this abuse had become widespread enough to warrant an addition to the dictionary.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize m... by swsieber on Sunday October 02, 2016 @12:08AM (#12621003)
I think you are mistaken as to the recency of this definiton.

According to wikitionary, the definition : "Exhibiting social equality, egalitarian" for the word "democratic" dates back to 1915.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize m... by Houshalter on Sunday October 02, 2016 @10:07AM (#12622369)
I checked wiktionary before posting and did not see that. Where do you see that? https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/democratize

EDIT: Ah, ok, it's under "https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/democratic". But I'm still not seeing 1915 there.

EDIT2: Ok it was hidden under an expandable.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A company called Bonsai joins a movement to democratize m... by rororororo on Sunday October 02, 2016 @12:47AM (#12621076)
It bothers me as well...
[ Parent | on HN ]