[ExI] Emily M. Bender — Language Models and Linguistics (video interview)

Gordon Swobe gordon.swobe at gmail.com
Mon Mar 27 22:54:18 UTC 2023


On Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 3:53 PM Jason Resch via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Mathematics can be viewed as a language. But it's a language that
> describes objects that exist in reality. That is to say, math contains
> "referents."
>

Yes, yes, and sort of. I thought we discussed this already. Mathematics can
be viewed as a language and for the purposes of a language model, that is
exactly what it is. We discussed also how like any language, the symbols
and expressions of mathematical truths have referents, and like all
referents, they exist outside of the language (they are not contained
within it). If we want to get philosophical and talk about where those
referents exist, then like mathematical platonists we can say they exist in
the platonic realm. In our conscious minds, we can "see" the truth of
mathematical truths independent of their symbolic representations in the
language of mathematics.

No?

-gts
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20230327/6d7245e2/attachment.htm>


More information about the extropy-chat mailing list