philosopher | linguist | winsome rogue | fgc wannabe i teach philosophy at the university of kentucky alt @bas_logic_fgc
Joined September 2023
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Patrick Skeels retweeted
Chomsky was wrong.
Researchers found your brain doesnβt store language the way every textbook since 1957 claims.
For decades, the undisputed rule of linguistics, led by Noam Chomsky, was that human language is hierarchical.
We were told our brains process language using complex "grammar trees." That we secretly build deep, abstract, mathematical rules in our heads before we speak.
This new paper proves that is completely wrong.
Researchers at Cornell University analyzed how people actually process and produce language in real time.
They found sequences. Linear chunks.
When we speak, we aren't calculating deep syntactic rules. We are just predicting the next most logical sequence of words based on the context of the words right before it.
We string linear chunks together.
If this sounds familiar, it should.
This is exactly how Large Language Models like ChatGPT work.
For years, critics have dismissed AI as "just a next-token predictor." They said it isn't truly intelligent because it doesn't understand deep grammatical hierarchies like humans do.
But this paper suggests humans don't use those hierarchies either.
We are just predicting the next chunk.
Language isn't a rigid tree of mathematical rules. It's a linear stream of contextual predictions.
We thought we were building AI to mimic the complexity of the human brain.
It turns out, the human brain was just running a simpler algorithm all along.
Patrick Skeels retweeted
Kentucky might be one of THE BEST teams IN THE COUNTRY.
Absolute BTA going on in College Station.
Patrick Skeels retweeted
Played LCD soundsystem for my little cousin for the first time & he said βYou can tell he had a lot of buttons in front of him when he made this song.β
Patrick Skeels retweeted
This sucks and I hate it.
"Golden Axe" video game is getting an animated series.
Co-created by Mike McMahan & Joe Chandler.
Coming to Paramount+ on September 16.
youtube.com/watch?v=sStbBtfGβ¦
Patrick Skeels retweeted
my favorite part about the latest academic scandal in the social sciences is people blaming the humanities
Patrick Skeels retweeted
So many old men about to make a comeback after hearing @nowbandnyc's victory speech!
Patrick Skeels retweeted
My father never accepted Yoshi's addition to the Mario series only ever referring to him as "The Serpent". "The Serpent is at best a tool not a character", he'd say. One Christmas I asked for Yoshi's Story and instead received a bible. "The Serpent's story is in there", he said
Patrick Skeels retweeted
No, but nobody should be trusted to do any philosophy without having a very good grasp on language.
Patrick Skeels retweeted
Some definitions for any who are confused.
Subjective: bad
Objective: good
Ontological: very
Valid: true
Metaphysical: ontological
A priori: without thinking on it too deeply
Deontological: prudish
Postmodern: bad in a French way
Continental: bad in a German way
Patrick Skeels retweeted
Solution to the homeless problem: incarceration for anyone found sleeping outside, unless they have applied for and acquired a "wandering philosopher" license, which comes with it the duty to engage passers-by in dialogue about matters of virtue, knowledge, and the state.
Patrick Skeels retweeted
# on shortification of "learning"
There are a lot of videos on YouTube/TikTok etc. that give the appearance of education, but if you look closely they are really just entertainment. This is very convenient for everyone involved : the people watching enjoy thinking they are learning (but actually they are just having fun). The people creating this content also enjoy it because fun has a much larger audience, fame and revenue. But as far as learning goes, this is a trap. This content is an epsilon away from watching the Bachelorette. It's like snacking on those "Garden Veggie Straws", which feel like you're eating healthy vegetables until you look at the ingredients.
Learning is not supposed to be fun. It doesn't have to be actively not fun either, but the primary feeling should be that of effort. It should look a lot less like that "10 minute full body" workout from your local digital media creator and a lot more like a serious session at the gym. You want the mental equivalent of sweating. It's not that the quickie doesn't do anything, it's just that it is wildly suboptimal if you actually care to learn.
I find it helpful to explicitly declare your intent up front as a sharp, binary variable in your mind. If you are consuming content: are you trying to be entertained or are you trying to learn? And if you are creating content: are you trying to entertain or are you trying to teach? You'll go down a different path in each case. Attempts to seek the stuff in between actually clamp to zero.
So for those who actually want to learn. Unless you are trying to learn something narrow and specific, close those tabs with quick blog posts. Close those tabs of "Learn XYZ in 10 minutes". Consider the opportunity cost of snacking and seek the meal - the textbooks, docs, papers, manuals, longform. Allocate a 4 hour window. Don't just read, take notes, re-read, re-phrase, process, manipulate, learn.
And for those actually trying to educate, please consider writing/recording longform, designed for someone to get "sweaty", especially in today's era of quantity over quality. Give someone a real workout. This is what I aspire to in my own educational work too. My audience will decrease. The ones that remain might not even like it. But at least we'll learn something.
Patrick Skeels retweeted
AIR CONDITIONING IS NOT A RIGHT-WING TECHNOLOGY
IT'S JUST A PUMP THAT MAKES A ROOM COLDER
STOP BEING AN IDIOT
