A Few Answered Questions (FAQ)
Maybe if somebody would ask some questions, they might
become frequent enough to name a FAQ after them.
Can I use BibleTrans to translate the Bible into [whatever]
language today?
Can we "crowd-source" the semantic database?
What about Artificial Intelligence?
What is "Open Source"?
Why ".com"?
Why ".info"?
What happened to BibleTrans International?
Rev. 2008 April 24
Can I use BibleTrans to translate the Bible into [whatever]
language today?
Not yet. The software is working, but BibleTrans needs the whole Bible
(or at least the New Testament) encoded (translated) into its semantic
database before it can be translated into any human language. This is a
huge job (see Business Plan). So far we have the whole epistle to the Philippians
and four chapters of Luke encoded. Pray the Lord of the harvest, that He
will send out laborers...
Can we "crowd-source" the semantic database?
The latest rage in distributed labor is using volunteers working on the
internet. It's a great idea for easy but tedious human tasks, such as pattern
recognition. The key term is "easy". Encoding the New Testament into a
usable semantic database is a huge and complex job that requires a lot
of training and attention to detail. Volunteers unwilling to spend full
time on it cannot keep all the details in mind. My paid employee, who was
an expert in Greek exegesis, made too many mistakes when her timecard dropped
below 20 hours per week.
What about Artificial Intelligence?
My minor in grad school was artificial intelligence (AI) so I know quite
a lot about it. When I taught computer science in college, I told my students
that it's a fraud based on the erroneous supposition of Darwinism. In the
real world computers don't get smarter by running themselves, they get
smarter by smart people pouring human intelligence into them the hard way,
by keyboard and mouse. BibleTrans knows that. Smart (or at least well-trained)
people put all the smarts in. Almost any person is smarter than the smartest
computer.
What is "Open Source"?
The software
Marxists like to believe in the concept of "free software" (their term),
which they insist means "free as in free speech" but from their actions
you can see they really mean "free as in free beer" (again, their terms).
I'm no Marxist, but I also recognize that there's no profit in Bible translation
(except into English, see Why ".com"?). Open
Source is a way to make the BibleTrans software available to volunteers
after I'm gone.
Why ".com"?
Dot-Com is the abbreviation "top-level domain" for commercial web sites.
It also gets used by a lot of non-profits and individual people who do
not understand what the "com" stands for. On 2002 January 7 an
agent of the IRS determined that Bible translation into languages that
do not already have it is a profit-making venture. There is no historical
nor financial evidence to support their "determination" (an IRS technical
term), but who says facts ever stopped the government. They are, after
all, "God's instruments of righteousness..." So the domain name "BibleTrans.com"
reflects the reality invented by the IRS. There is of course no commercial
profit in this venture -- never was, never will be -- but it's fun to pretend.
BibleTrans.com still points here
to this same web site.
Why ".info"?
This website is for information about BibleTrans. It used to be called
"BibleTrans.com" but I made the
mistake of using as host some fly-by-night company that spends a lot of
money advertizing, but has no physical presence in the USA. Judging from
the language on their error messages, the servers might be in eastern Europe
somewhere, their telephone support people admit to being in the Philippines,
and their domain is registered to some address in an inaccessible Caribbean
island hideaway. They changed their software so I could no longer maintain
the website. Suspecting potential foul play, I created the new domain "BibleTrans.info"
on a different host in case I could not get the old domain transfered to
the new host. In retrospect that was a good plan, but I like the new domain
as better reflecting the nature of this web site. BibleTrans.com
and BibleTrans.info now both
point here to this same web site.
What happened to BibleTrans International?
BibleTrans International was incorporated as a California non-profit corporation
on 2000 May 8. Unfortunately God did not give me the administrative skills
necessary to assemble and motivate a team of people into a long-term commitment
to computer-assisted Bible translation. When the IRS returned an adverse
determination (see Why ".com"?), they decided
to roll over and disband instead of meeting the reasonable concerns of
the IRS. After getting my shattered finances back under control, I picked
up the pieces and here I am today...
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