Philosophy of Language

Tag

37 Ways That Words Can Be Wrong

Eliezer Yudkowsky6 Mar 2008 5:09 UTC

210 points

77 comments9 min readLW link

Unnatural Categories Are Optimized for Deception

Zack_M_Davis8 Jan 2021 20:54 UTC

90 points

22 comments33 min readLW link 1 review

Where to Draw the Boundaries?

Zack_M_Davis13 Apr 2019 21:34 UTC

119 points

108 comments13 min readLW link 3 reviews

Philosophy in the Darkest Timeline: Basics of the Evolution of Meaning

Zack_M_Davis7 Jun 2020 7:52 UTC

127 points

16 comments14 min readLW link

A revolution in philosophy: the rise of conceptual engineering

Suspended Reason2 Jun 2020 18:30 UTC

130 points

50 comments21 min readLW link

Fuzzy Boundaries, Real Concepts

orthonormal7 May 2018 3:39 UTC

27 points

8 comments7 min readLW link

Schelling Categories, and Simple Membership Tests

Zack_M_Davis26 Aug 2019 2:43 UTC

58 points

10 comments7 min readLW link

Maybe Lying Can’t Exist?!

Zack_M_Davis23 Aug 2020 0:36 UTC

58 points

16 comments5 min readLW link

Taboo Your Words

Eliezer Yudkowsky15 Feb 2008 22:53 UTC

223 points

129 comments3 min readLW link

The Categories Were Made For Man, Not Man For The Categories

Scott Alexander21 Nov 2014 14:34 UTC

85 points

9 comments18 min readLW link

Sapir-Whorf for Rationalists

[DEACTIVATED] Duncan Sabien25 Jan 2023 7:58 UTC

145 points

48 comments19 min readLW link

Pondering the paucity of volcanic profanity post Pompeii perusal

CraigMichael1 Sep 2022 9:29 UTC

21 points

2 comments15 min readLW link

Sneaking in Connotations

Eliezer Yudkowsky19 Feb 2008 19:41 UTC

75 points

23 comments3 min readLW link

Blue is Arbitrary

lsusr14 Mar 2021 9:04 UTC

61 points

8 comments1 min readLW link

Reply to Nate Soares on Dolphins

Zack_M_Davis10 Jun 2021 4:53 UTC

46 points

49 comments5 min readLW link

Disguised Queries

Eliezer Yudkowsky9 Feb 2008 0:05 UTC

161 points

108 comments5 min readLW link

Only say ‘rational’ when you can’t eliminate the word

Eliezer Yudkowsky31 May 2012 6:56 UTC

98 points

49 comments1 min readLW link

Dissolving the Question

Eliezer Yudkowsky8 Mar 2008 3:17 UTC

129 points

122 comments5 min readLW link

How An Algorithm Feels From Inside

Eliezer Yudkowsky11 Feb 2008 2:35 UTC

243 points

83 comments4 min readLW link

Terminal Values and Instrumental Values

Eliezer Yudkowsky15 Nov 2007 7:56 UTC

103 points

45 comments10 min readLW link

The Parable of the Dagger

Eliezer Yudkowsky1 Feb 2008 20:53 UTC

213 points

104 comments1 min readLW link

The Dark Miracle of Optics

Suspended Reason24 Jun 2020 3:09 UTC

27 points

5 comments8 min readLW link

Meaning is Quasi-Idempotent

Chris_Leong24 Jul 2020 4:08 UTC

5 points

10 comments2 min readLW link

Words and Implications

johnswentworth1 Oct 2020 17:37 UTC

60 points

25 comments8 min readLW link

The Cluster Structure of Thingspace

Eliezer Yudkowsky8 Feb 2008 0:07 UTC

134 points

27 comments4 min readLW link

Disputing Definitions

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Feb 2008 0:15 UTC

106 points

46 comments5 min readLW link

Words as Hidden Inferences

Eliezer Yudkowsky3 Feb 2008 23:36 UTC

80 points

23 comments3 min readLW link

A Hill of Validity in Defense of Meaning

Zack_M_Davis15 Jul 2023 17:57 UTC

17 points

113 comments75 min readLW link

(unremediatedgender.space)

Concepts Don’t Work That Way

lukeprog28 Sep 2011 2:01 UTC

85 points

92 comments8 min readLW link

Relabelings vs. External References

Chris_Leong20 Sep 2019 2:20 UTC

12 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 5 - How do we know what we know?

Gordon Seidoh Worley28 Dec 2022 1:28 UTC

10 points

2 comments12 min readLW link

The Waluigi Effect (mega-post)

Cleo Nardo3 Mar 2023 3:22 UTC

598 points

185 comments16 min readLW link

Chomsky on ChatGPT (link)

mukashi9 Mar 2023 7:00 UTC

2 points

6 comments1 min readLW link

What is a definition, how can it be extrapolated?

Stuart_Armstrong14 Mar 2023 18:08 UTC

34 points

5 comments7 min readLW link

Fallacies of Compression

Eliezer Yudkowsky17 Feb 2008 18:51 UTC

85 points

26 comments4 min readLW link

Feel the Meaning

Eliezer Yudkowsky13 Feb 2008 1:01 UTC

51 points

11 comments3 min readLW link

Extended Picture Theory or Models inside Models inside Models

Chris_Leong10 Mar 2021 13:24 UTC

13 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

Diseased thinking: dissolving questions about disease

Scott Alexander30 May 2010 21:16 UTC

491 points

356 comments9 min readLW link

Lying Alignment Chart

Zack_M_Davis29 Nov 2023 16:15 UTC

45 points

9 comments1 min readLW link

Notes on Sincerity and such

David Gross1 Dec 2020 5:09 UTC

9 points

2 comments12 min readLW link

Whether LLMs “understand” anything is mostly a terminological dispute

RobertM9 Jul 2023 3:31 UTC

10 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

Hedge drift and advanced motte-and-bailey

Stefan_Schubert1 May 2016 14:45 UTC

55 points

12 comments2 min readLW link

Two Hot Takes about Quine

Charlie Steiner11 Jul 2023 6:42 UTC

14 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

Referencing the Unreferencable

Chris_Leong4 Apr 2020 10:42 UTC

16 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

Language, the Key to Everything

chris8217912 Feb 2019 5:06 UTC

−2 points

2 comments4 min readLW link

Linguistic Freedom

Chris_Leong6 Jan 2021 7:23 UTC

10 points

4 comments2 min readLW link

How webs of meaning grow and change

Hazard14 Aug 2020 13:58 UTC

14 points

0 comments10 min readLW link

The Argument from Common Usage

Eliezer Yudkowsky13 Feb 2008 16:24 UTC

54 points

23 comments4 min readLW link

Communication Requires Common Interests or Differential Signal Costs

Zack_M_Davis26 Mar 2021 6:41 UTC

39 points

10 comments3 min readLW link 1 review

There’s no such thing as a tree (phylogenetically)

eukaryote3 May 2021 3:47 UTC

329 points

58 comments7 min readLW link 2 reviews

(eukaryotewritesblog.com)

Deliberately Vague Language is Bullshit

lsusr14 May 2021 9:17 UTC

35 points

23 comments1 min readLW link

The Parable of Hemlock

Eliezer Yudkowsky3 Feb 2008 2:01 UTC

78 points

19 comments4 min readLW link

Questions are tools to help answerers optimize utility

ozziegooen24 May 2021 19:30 UTC

31 points

6 comments4 min readLW link

Blood Is Thicker Than Water 🐬

Zack_M_Davis28 Sep 2021 3:21 UTC

35 points

26 comments13 min readLW link

Book Review: Philosophical Investigations by Wittgenstein

Chris_Leong12 Oct 2021 20:14 UTC

34 points

11 comments33 min readLW link

Comment on “Deception as Cooperation”

Zack_M_Davis27 Nov 2021 4:04 UTC

23 points

4 comments7 min readLW link

Challenges to Yudkowsky’s Pronoun Reform Proposal

Zack_M_Davis13 Mar 2022 20:38 UTC

53 points

55 comments39 min readLW link

(unremediatedgender.space)

Words as Mental Paintbrush Handles

Eliezer Yudkowsky1 Mar 2008 23:58 UTC

45 points

75 comments3 min readLW link

The Cage of the Language

Martin Sustrik13 Apr 2022 5:20 UTC

53 points

19 comments2 min readLW link

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 2 - Why do words have meaning?

Gordon Seidoh Worley18 Apr 2022 20:54 UTC

14 points

18 comments11 min readLW link

Genders Discrimination

Jacob Falkovich7 Jul 2022 15:20 UTC

10 points

16 comments4 min readLW link

Please (re)explain your personal jargon

Nathan Helm-Burger22 Aug 2022 14:30 UTC

19 points

4 comments4 min readLW link

2-Place and 1-Place Words

Eliezer Yudkowsky27 Jun 2008 7:39 UTC

109 points

38 comments5 min readLW link

Extensions and Intensions

Eliezer Yudkowsky4 Feb 2008 21:34 UTC

84 points

27 comments4 min readLW link

Superexponential Conceptspace, and Simple Words

Eliezer Yudkowsky24 Feb 2008 23:59 UTC

49 points

16 comments6 min readLW link

Enforcing Type Distinction

lionhearted (Sebastian Marshall)31 Jul 2020 11:39 UTC

25 points

1 comment2 min readLW link

Similarity Clusters

Eliezer Yudkowsky6 Feb 2008 3:34 UTC

53 points

5 comments2 min readLW link

Playing shell games with definitions

weverka8 Dec 2022 19:35 UTC

9 points

3 comments1 min readLW link

Sazen

[DEACTIVATED] Duncan Sabien21 Dec 2022 7:54 UTC

241 points

78 comments12 min readLW link

Wrong Questions

Eliezer Yudkowsky8 Mar 2008 17:11 UTC

75 points

137 comments2 min readLW link

Blegg Mode

Zack_M_Davis11 Mar 2019 15:04 UTC

18 points

68 comments1 min readLW link

(unremediatedgender.space)

Language Ex Machina

janus15 Jan 2023 9:19 UTC

40 points

19 comments24 min readLW link

(generative.ink)

Typicality and Asymmetrical Similarity

Eliezer Yudkowsky6 Feb 2008 21:20 UTC

45 points

69 comments3 min readLW link

ChatGPT understands language

philosophybear27 Jan 2023 7:14 UTC

27 points

4 comments6 min readLW link

(philosophybear.substack.com)

Neural Categories

Eliezer Yudkowsky10 Feb 2008 0:33 UTC

54 points

12 comments4 min readLW link

[Linkpost] A shared linguistic space for transmitting our thoughts from brain to brain in natural conversations

Bogdan Ionut Cirstea1 Jul 2023 13:57 UTC

17 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

Definitions are about efficiency and consistency with common language.

Nacruno9610 Jul 2023 23:46 UTC

1 point

0 comments4 min readLW link

Fundamentally Fuzzy Concepts Can’t Have Crisp Definitions: Cooperation and Alignment vs Math and Physics

VojtaKovarik21 Jul 2023 21:03 UTC

12 points

18 comments3 min readLW link

The Parable of the Dagger—The Animation

Writer29 Jul 2023 14:03 UTC

20 points

6 comments1 min readLW link

(youtu.be)

STRUCTURE: A Hazardous Guide to Words

Hazard20 Jun 2019 15:27 UTC

8 points

7 comments5 min readLW link

[Linkpost] Large language models converge toward human-like concept organization

Bogdan Ionut Cirstea2 Sep 2023 6:00 UTC

22 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

[untitled post]

verwindung14 Sep 2023 16:22 UTC

1 point

0 comments1 min readLW link

The Great Disembedding

rogersbacon27 Sep 2023 14:53 UTC

16 points

4 comments16 min readLW link

(www.secretorum.life)

Entanglement and intuition about words and meaning

Bill Benzon4 Oct 2023 14:16 UTC

4 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

Translations Should Invert

abramdemski5 Oct 2023 17:44 UTC

45 points

19 comments3 min readLW link

Are (at least some) Large Language Models Holographic Memory Stores?

Bill Benzon20 Oct 2023 13:07 UTC

11 points

0 comments6 min readLW link

Situating LessWrong in contemporary philosophy: An interview with Jon Livengood

Suspended Reason1 Jul 2020 0:37 UTC

117 points

21 comments19 min readLW link

How Specificity Works

Liron3 Sep 2019 12:11 UTC

86 points

47 comments7 min readLW link

The Relation Projection Fallacy and the purpose of life

Academian28 Dec 2012 4:14 UTC

120 points

42 comments3 min readLW link

The First Step is to Admit That You Have a Problem

Alicorn6 Oct 2009 20:59 UTC

77 points

87 comments3 min readLW link

The Futility of Emergence

Eliezer Yudkowsky26 Aug 2007 22:10 UTC

91 points

142 comments3 min readLW link

Entropy, and Short Codes

Eliezer Yudkowsky23 Feb 2008 3:16 UTC

73 points

27 comments4 min readLW link

Replace the Symbol with the Substance

Eliezer Yudkowsky16 Feb 2008 18:12 UTC

78 points

17 comments5 min readLW link

Rationality and the English Language

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Sep 2007 22:55 UTC

115 points

33 comments4 min readLW link

Arguing “By Definition”

Eliezer Yudkowsky20 Feb 2008 23:37 UTC

74 points

41 comments4 min readLW link

Words, Locally Defined

abramdemski3 May 2018 23:26 UTC

19 points

27 comments3 min readLW link

Defending points you don’t care about

Hazard19 Jun 2019 20:40 UTC

41 points

6 comments4 min readLW link

Simplicio and Sophisticus

Zvi22 Jul 2018 13:30 UTC

42 points

1 comment4 min readLW link

(thezvi.wordpress.com)

Pluralistic Moral Reductionism

lukeprog1 Jun 2011 0:59 UTC

63 points

327 comments15 min readLW link

Status 451 on Diagnosis: Russell Aphasia

Zack_M_Davis6 Aug 2019 4:43 UTC

48 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

(status451.com)

Conceptual Analysis and Moral Theory

lukeprog16 May 2011 6:28 UTC

92 points

481 comments8 min readLW link

Empty Labels

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Feb 2008 23:50 UTC

42 points

7 comments2 min readLW link

Categorizing Has Consequences

Eliezer Yudkowsky19 Feb 2008 1:40 UTC

62 points

13 comments3 min readLW link

Where to Draw the Boundary?

Eliezer Yudkowsky21 Feb 2008 19:14 UTC

73 points

51 comments3 min readLW link

The sentence structure of mathematics

countedblessings7 Oct 2019 18:58 UTC

40 points

15 comments2 min readLW link

SotW: Be Specific

Eliezer Yudkowsky3 Apr 2012 6:11 UTC

79 points

294 comments12 min readLW link

Surely, rhetorical question?

Gust11 Jan 2018 20:56 UTC

15 points

0 comments1 min readLW link

(gusbicalho.com.br)

Leaky Generalizations

Eliezer Yudkowsky22 Nov 2007 21:16 UTC

49 points

29 comments3 min readLW link

[Question] What are questions?

Pee Doom9 Jan 2019 7:37 UTC

35 points

17 comments2 min readLW link

The Pink Sparkly Ball Thing (Use unique, non-obvious terms for nuanced concepts)

MalcolmOcean20 Feb 2016 23:25 UTC

36 points

14 comments5 min readLW link

Variable Question Fallacies

Eliezer Yudkowsky5 Mar 2008 6:22 UTC

42 points

37 comments3 min readLW link

The Nature of Logic

Eliezer Yudkowsky15 Nov 2008 6:20 UTC

41 points

12 comments10 min readLW link

Unnatural Categories

Eliezer Yudkowsky24 Aug 2008 1:00 UTC

37 points

10 comments8 min readLW link

The Fabric of Real Things

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Oct 2012 2:11 UTC

41 points

308 comments4 min readLW link

Sequence Exercise: first 3 posts from “A Human’s Guide to Words”

Normal_Anomaly16 Apr 2011 17:21 UTC

43 points

18 comments1 min readLW link

Living Metaphorically

lukeprog28 Nov 2011 15:01 UTC

33 points

78 comments7 min readLW link

Calibrate words, not just probabilities

MikkW18 Jul 2020 5:56 UTC

11 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

Schematic Thinking: heuristic generalization using Korzybski’s method

romeostevensit14 Oct 2019 19:29 UTC

27 points

7 comments3 min readLW link

Actors and scribes, words and deeds

Benquo26 Apr 2017 5:12 UTC

31 points

5 comments9 min readLW link

Claiming Connotations

Error9 Dec 2012 23:40 UTC

37 points

23 comments2 min readLW link

Fake Norms, or “Truth” vs. Truth

Eliezer Yudkowsky22 Jul 2008 10:23 UTC

27 points

16 comments3 min readLW link

Words Aren’t Type Safe

Hazard19 Jun 2019 20:34 UTC

22 points

12 comments3 min readLW link

“Arbitrary”

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Aug 2008 17:55 UTC

19 points

14 comments4 min readLW link

Is Fairness Arbitrary?

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Aug 2008 1:54 UTC

9 points

37 comments6 min readLW link

Category Qualifications (w/ exercises)

Logan Riggs15 Sep 2019 16:28 UTC

23 points

22 comments5 min readLW link

The Power & Tragedy of Names

SocratesDissatisfied6 Nov 2020 22:50 UTC

12 points

4 comments5 min readLW link

I believe it’s doublethink

kerspoon21 Feb 2012 22:30 UTC

32 points

32 comments3 min readLW link

Fundamental Philosophical Problems Inherent in AI discourse

AlexSadler16 Sep 2018 21:03 UTC

23 points

1 comment17 min readLW link

E-Prime

CannibalSmith8 Apr 2009 13:01 UTC

17 points

20 comments1 min readLW link

Persuasiveness vs Soundness

Patrick13 Apr 2009 8:43 UTC

0 points

19 comments2 min readLW link

Ungendered Spanish

jefftk7 Dec 2019 16:20 UTC

20 points

9 comments2 min readLW link

(www.jefftk.com)

Where is the Meaning?

Hazard22 Jul 2019 20:18 UTC

21 points

3 comments4 min readLW link

ESR’s comments on some EY:OB/LW posts

Eliezer Yudkowsky20 Jun 2009 0:16 UTC

7 points

16 comments1 min readLW link

No, Newspeak Won’t Make You Stupid

MikkW18 Dec 2020 0:56 UTC

21 points

38 comments7 min readLW link

On the nature of purpose

Nora_Ammann22 Jan 2021 8:30 UTC

28 points

15 comments9 min readLW link

Abstractions and translation

Amir Bolous20 May 2021 2:45 UTC

5 points

1 comment2 min readLW link

[Question] What words should be shorter in the rational dictionary?

brook2 Apr 2022 16:46 UTC

9 points

5 comments1 min readLW link

Vague concepts, family resemblance and cluster properties

Q Home20 Aug 2022 10:21 UTC

18 points

8 comments7 min readLW link

Informal semantics and Orders

Q Home27 Aug 2022 4:17 UTC

14 points

10 comments26 min readLW link

Simulators

janus2 Sep 2022 12:45 UTC

621 points

116 comments41 min readLW link

(generative.ink)

Contemporary Linguistics: A Perspective on Research and Information Sharing

Miniman12 Sep 2022 19:02 UTC

1 point

5 comments3 min readLW link

Wisdom Cannot Be Unzipped

Sable22 Oct 2022 0:28 UTC

64 points

16 comments7 min readLW link

(affablyevil.substack.com)

Writing Russian and Ukrainian words in Latin script

Viliam23 Oct 2022 15:25 UTC

19 points

22 comments6 min readLW link

Word-Distance vs Idea-Distance: The Case for Lanoitaring

Sable6 Nov 2022 5:25 UTC

7 points

7 comments7 min readLW link

(affablyevil.substack.com)

Recent advances in Natural Language Processing—Some Woolly speculations (2019 essay on semantics and language models)

philosophybear27 Dec 2022 2:11 UTC

1 point

0 comments7 min readLW link

Against John Searle, Gary Marcus, the Chinese Room thought experiment and its world

philosophybear29 Dec 2022 3:26 UTC

21 points

40 comments8 min readLW link

Critique of some recent philosophy of LLMs’ minds

Roman Leventov20 Jan 2023 12:53 UTC

51 points

8 comments20 min readLW link

The Knockdown Argument Paradox

Bryan Frances28 Jan 2023 19:23 UTC

−12 points

6 comments8 min readLW link

The Linguistic Blind Spot of Value-Aligned Agency, Natural and Artificial

Roman Leventov14 Feb 2023 6:57 UTC

6 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

(arxiv.org)

Why There Is No Answer to Your Philosophical Question

Bryan Frances24 Mar 2023 23:22 UTC

−12 points

10 comments12 min readLW link

If it quacks like a duck...

RationalMindset26 Mar 2023 18:54 UTC

−4 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

[Question] Bermudez Interface Problem

Motor Vehicle27 Mar 2023 18:11 UTC

1 point

2 comments1 min readLW link

How Large Language Models Nuke our Naive Notions of Truth and Reality

Sean Lee17 Apr 2023 18:08 UTC

0 points

23 comments11 min readLW link

math terminology as convolution

bhauth30 Oct 2023 1:05 UTC

38 points

1 comment4 min readLW link

(www.bhauth.com)

The Unification of Physics and Metaphysics: 22 Axioms for All Existences

monkymind and GPT-4

30 Apr 2023 4:16 UTC

−38 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

What Boston Can Teach Us About What a Woman Is

ymeskhout1 May 2023 15:34 UTC

17 points

45 comments12 min readLW link

An LLM-based “exemplary actor”

Roman Leventov29 May 2023 11:12 UTC

16 points

0 comments12 min readLW link

[Linkpost] Large Language Models Converge on Brain-Like Word Representations

Bogdan Ionut Cirstea11 Jun 2023 11:20 UTC

36 points

12 comments1 min readLW link

[Linkpost] Scaling laws for language encoding models in fMRI

Bogdan Ionut Cirstea8 Jun 2023 10:52 UTC

29 points

0 comments1 min readLW link

[Linkpost] Mapping Brains with Language Models: A Survey

Bogdan Ionut Cirstea16 Jun 2023 9:49 UTC

5 points

0 comments1 min readLW link

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Philos­o­phy of Language

Philosophy of Language