posted
You might have better luck starting with a list of properties commonly found in chairs and saying "objects with a number of the properties defined above, which would not be better defined as couches or stools".
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: That would still be a holodeck chair. I think "holodeck" would be a necessary addendum when describing the chair. You could certainly call it a chair just for simplicities sake but that's no different than looking at a photograph of a chair and saying, "look a chair."
I picked the Star Trek example for a reason though. In that world, a holographic doctor is still a doctor. An artificial man (Data) still has all the rights of a normal man.
Besides, its clearly different from a photograph of a chair in that one can sit on it and all five senses could be fooled that it is a chair. In fact, if you didn't know you were in a holodeck you wouldn't hesitate to call it a chair. (In fact, one could argue its *more* of a chair than the heroin chair which would fail one notable sense)
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posted
Does a chair have to be made of matter? Is there some reason why a series of energy forcefields that are capable of supporting a human body in a sitting position are less of a chair that a collection of pieces of matter that perform the same function.
I think the best definition of a chair would have to be based on function rather than form.
chair: Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which serves the primary function of providing support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position.
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cchair: Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which is capable of baring the full weight of a humanoid body and serves the primary function of providing support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position.
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(But in general, I do like a functional definition better than a form definition, it seems less troublesome)
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: revision 1:
cchair: Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which is capable of baring the full weight of a humanoid body and serves the primary function of providing support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position.
Revision 2:
Char: Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which is capable of bearing the full weight of a humanoid body or any inanimate object. It must include support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position, though it does not have to be of a size and strength to support a humanoid in a sitting position.
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: As for reading positions, do you find your biggest problem is that your arms start to hurt when they are bent for long periods of time?
No, my problems with reading positions are typically back and neck strain not arms.
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quote:Originally posted by Jhai: What about dog & cell chairs?
What is a cell chair?
Dog chair I think I understand but I'm going to ignore it since the people who use such things are typically the same people who think dogs are people too.
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Char: Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which is capable of bearing the full weight of a humanoid body or any inanimate object. It must include support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position, though it does not have to be of a size and strength to support a humanoid in a sitting position.
"capable of bearing the full weight of a humanoid body" and "does not have to be of the size and strength to support a humanoid" seem contradictor.
Revisions 3: Chair:
a) Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which is capable of bearing the full weight of a humanoid body and which includes support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position or
b) Any object which has identical form to an object that serves function A, but which is built to either large or smaller scale.
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posted
Oops. We lost the "single" bit somewhere along the line.
Question: can chairs be made which are meant to be used by two people at the same time, or is it no longer a chair? What about a single item with two seats & a shared back? Is that a double chair?
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quote:Originally posted by fugu13: So benches are all chairs?
What do you see as the difference between a bench and a chair. If a something you call a bench has a back rest and is made to fit just one person, I can't see any difference between that and a chair.
BTW, built to scale implies all dimensions are scaled by the same factor. So for example a doll house chair that is a miniature replicate of a regular chair can be said to be built to smaller scale. If you take a chair and modify it to make it wide enough to seat 2 or 10 people, it isn't simply built to a larger scale.
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posted
I think I see how we lost the restiction to single person. See if this fixes it
Revisions 4: Chair:
a) Any artificial structure or subset of a larger structure which is capable of bearing the full weight of a humanoid body and which serves the primary purpose of providing support for both the lower and upper body of a single humanoid in a sitting position or
b) Any object which has identical form to an object that serves function A, but which is built to either large or smaller scale.
Note: A chair doesn't cease to be a chair if two people sit on it, its just being used to fill a function other than its primary function. It would however cease to be a chair if its intended design is to hold two or more people.
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quote:Originally posted by Jhai: What would you call something like this, then (besides fugly as all get out)?
Two chairs welded together?
The fact that we haven't invented a single word for two chairs that are attached to each other (or 5 or 20 chairs attached to each other) doesn't mean that they aren't in a category distinctly different from individual chairs.
You have to draw a line somewhere.
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posted
True, I get a little tingle from the chair that was made from Gumby that I don't get from the disembodied tongue.
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: As for reading positions, do you find your biggest problem is that your arms start to hurt when they are bent for long periods of time?
No, my problems with reading positions are typically back and neck strain not arms.
I usually read lying down, so I just roll over to my stomach if my arms begin to hurt.
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