The connecting central point between these topics is language, a combination of words and the associated meaning. For the general public Artificial Intelligence (AI) became an important social factor in the time after the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, and it uses large language models (LLMs) - specifically generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) - to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts. The language is right in the middle of LLM.
Motivation
As a curious person I want to understand the world. Naturally I stumble across different philosophies that try to explain the world. Since my childhood I’m also interested in computers, and this curiosity has not veined since my first programming efforts on a KC 85/3 in 1988 or my fist computer, a ZX81 in 1989. Later I studied physics from 2000 on, motivated to understand the world better. Historically physics is part of natural philosophy. Generative AI became a part of society after 2022. Finally in 2025 I started to study the Vietnamese language. When finished in 2029 I will have a bachelor in linguistics.
Dependence on a physical world
From a certain point of view words, ideas and language are not material things. But they certainly need a physical world to exist. One might argue, that it can exist without a physical world or manifestation, but to make this argument one again need a physical reality. Here are at least three connections:
- Storage: Ideas are expressed in some kind of language, whether with words or pictograms, pictures or sculptures. For simplicity I will focus on words and languages to store information. This can be charges in a capacitor of a NAND drive, magnetic fields on a hard drive, chemical bonds in the neural network of the brain, electromagnetic waves in the universe, ink on a paper or carvings on a stone. It is a specific alteration of the physical world that lets words and language become a reality. Without a change in the physical world they don’t exist.
- Processing: Meditation need a brain to think about ideas. It can reason about words, images, concepts or anything else. Again it is the alteration of the physical world that makes this happen.
- Transmission: Whether a human thinks by himself, has a conversation, an AI model answering question, a YouTube channel explains things - this again happens in the physical world with measurable and observable changes to the physical world.
Foundation
At least for the beginning words and language are based on objects in the real world. As humans we observe the physical world with all our senses. By the time we learn a word, for example ball, apple or tree, we have already some understanding of the physical object, its size, color, taste, density, texture, squishiness and other characteristics. The word we learn and use become a label, and expands or changes over time. This happens by using the word and interacting with other humans using this word, or books we read that use this word, or any other form of media.
By reading we can also stumble across new words (or when having a conversation). We can then look for a definition, ask for a definition or infer a definition or meaning by the way and context the word is used. In this way we also learn words for nonphysical things like love, friendship, honor, honesty, integrity. Computers and LLMs can do the same. This even applies to foreign languages, and computers are very effective in this use case. For some of these concepts we seem to be pre-programmed to have an intuitive understanding, emotional need and moral compass.
Going beyond
Once we have a certain framework and foundation our brain can easily imagine things that have no physical manifestation, like an imaginary friend. Little children have vivid dreams. And LLMs are also known to have hallucinations. On the other hand we can have real dreams about the future, and reason on concept in our minds to come up with new ideas. Be creative. Invent something that never existed yet. They still need the physical world as described above for the processing, but don’t need a physical reality or equivalent or even connection to a physical thing to exist (other than the person/computer having this idea).
In theory this world of ideas is limitless. Philosophy is certainly a big part of it. One can easily create entire worlds of thoughts and ideas, interconnect them to very complex constructs. They can be stored on physical media, and shared or transmitted in the physical world. Philosophers have shared their ideas and influenced people for thousands of years. The human mind certainly has a certain need to be used and challenged. But there are a few limitations.
Reflecting back to the physical world
History has shown that the possible achievements purely in this etherical world of words, ideas and concepts are very limited. The same way as storage, processing and transmission of ideas is done in the physical world, the ideas have to be applied and tested in the physical world to reveal their value and truthfulness. Almost all progress in human knowledge and society has been achieved by reflecting ideas back in the physical world. Pure thinking and meditating is not sufficient to explain the world.
An example would be our understanding of the world, that is also the foundation for modern technologies and societies. This includes the necessity for humans to write down language, and share it with others. Invent a printing press. To train humans from childhood on to read and write. To think about light, how it bends, what lenses do, how to build a telescope, to discover our place in the universe, to learn about the elements, their composition, the human body, microscopes, DNA and proteins, vaccinations, bacteria and so on. Many of these insights build on one another and required better physical objects. This in turn gives us a better concept or idea about the nature of things.
Pure thought has not discovered a single element. This does not mean that we are limited by the physical world. The things we can dream about extend beyond the things in existence. But when we bring some of these dreams into reality or test our theories, then we lay the foundation to go further. Otherwise we can easily get lost.
Cognitive conflict
Many of the words we are using in a language have either a physical representation or we have a personal experience with this concept to better understand the scope of its meaning. We can even anticipate come meaningful corelations with other words.
Buddhist philosophy
What sound does it make if you clap with one hand?
Daoism
The Dao that can be named is not the real Dao This verse describes the most mysterious concept in the Dao De Jing: the Nameless Source of all reality.
“From the Beginning… there was the Unnamed. That which could be named was but shadow, a fleeting echo of the Nameless One.”
The Unnamed (Dao): Before the universe, before “waters and lands,” there was the Uncreated Source. It’s called “Unnamed” because any label (God, Energy, Creator) would immediately limit it and turn it into a mere concept. It is the infinite potential.
The Shadow (Named World): Everything we can see, touch, or name (mountains, trees, people) is a “shadow” or a temporary manifestation. These are real, but they are fleeting echoes of the eternal, foundational Nameless One.
The Lesson: Don’t confuse the temporary forms (the shadows) with the eternal source (the Unnamed). True reality and lasting peace lie in recognizing and aligning with the infinite source that exists beyond all names and concepts.
Zhuangzi
I dream I am a butterfly. Then I wake up. And wonder: Maybe I am a butterfly, dreaming to be a human?
How do I know?