I don't think a more formalized language really gets around the problem. If 
that were true, we'd have already fallen back to the most consistent, yet 
simple languages available, such as assembler. But on top of these we build 
significantly more complex systems, bent by our own internal variations on 
logic. It's that layer that causes the problems. What seems like it might 
be successful is to pair our constructions with many languages that more 
closely match how people think. Now I know that sounds weird, but not if one 
accepts that a clunky, ugly language like COBOL was actually very successful. 
Lots of stuff was written, much of it still running. Its own excessive 
verbosity helps in making it fixable by a broader group of people. 

Of course there is still a huge problem with that idea. Once written, if the 
author is no longer available, the work effectively becomes frozen. It can be 
built upon, but it is hard to truly expand. Thus we get to what we have now, a 
rather massive house of cards that becomes ever more perilous to build upon. If 
we want to break the cycle, we have to choose a new option. The size of the 
work is beyond any individual's capacity, combining different people's 
work is prone to clashes, the more individualized we make the languages the 
harder they are to modify, and the more normalized we make the hard they are to 
use.

Paul.
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