| Message from Honorary Chair |
Welcome message from the Honorary Chair
Computation with imprecise probabilities is not an academic exercise—it is a bridge to reality. In large measure, real-world probabilities are imprecise. But in the literature of probability theory, computation with imprecise probabilities has received relatively little attention until the publication of Peter Walley’s seminal work on imprecise probabilities in 1991. Today, computation with imprecise probabilities has acquired a position of importance, but is not yet in the mainstream. In the literature of probability theory, methods for computation with imprecise probabilities are based for the most part on bivalent logic. In my writings on the subject, starting with my 1986 paper “Is Probability Theory Sufficient for Dealing with Uncertainty in AI: A Negative View,” I argued that computation with imprecise probabilities should be based on fuzzy logic. However, what is widely unrecognized within the fuzzy logic community is that computation with imprecise probabilities is an important issue within fuzzy logic that has to be assigned a high priority. It is this lack of recognition that prompts me to bring this issue to your attention. Within the fuzzy logic community, theory of natural languages has been and continues to be on the periphery, largely because imprecision of natural languages appears to be in conflict with precision of fuzzy logic. In actuality, this is not the case. Fuzzy logic provides a means of precisiation of natural languages, especially in the realm of semantics. Not long after the publication of my first paper on fuzzy sets, I began to realize that there is a close connection between natural languages and fuzzy logic. One of my first papers on the subject (1971) was entitled “Quantitative Fuzzy Semantics.” Many others followed. Particularly worthy of note is my 1973 paper “Outline of a New Approach to the Analysis of Complex Systems and Decision Processes,” in which the concepts of a linguistic variable and fuzzy if-then rule were introduced. My venture into natural languages was greeted with criticism rather than approbation. Today, linguistic variables and fuzzy if-then rules are employed in almost all applications of fuzzy logic. The formalism of Computing with Words introduced in my 1996 paper “Fuzzy Logic = Computing with Words,” has in my view, the potential for evolving into a basic paradigm shift—a paradigm shift which would open the door to a wide-ranging enlargement of the role of natural languages in fuzzy logic and, more generally, in scientific theories. It is this perception that motivates me to highlight the importance of Computing with Words within fuzzy logic. There is a close connection between Computing with Words and computation with imprecise probabilities because imprecise probabilities are generally described in a natural language. At this juncture, the relevance of fuzzy logic to computation with imprecise probabilities and natural language theories has not as yet been widely recognized either within or outside the fuzzy logic community. I believe that it is a responsibility of the fuzzy logic community to focus on application of fuzzy logic to computation with imprecise probabilities and theories of natural language, especially in the realm of semantics. With warmest regards to all, Lotfi. |
It is a source of deep regret for me to be unable to participate in IFSA–EUSFLAT 2009, in the beautiful city of Lisbon. Lisbon has a special significance for me because it was the first European city that I saw when I traveled by boat from Iran to the United States in July 1944. The beauty of Lisbon is etched in my memory.