Words are made from metaphors, It can be hard to grok this, Even the thought on it can seem ephemeral. The very structure of our thought floats away as we try to describe it. We use words that themselves are made of metaphors, which could be a gesture or a feeling but which we can only describe on this page with words. So then those metaphors are made of metaphors. It's about as 'meta as you can get, but I think understanding this 'meta' is powerful in many ways.
I can describe the word "happyness" as lightness and warmth in the heart, fulfillment of the mind. I could also just copy a dictionary definition.
Happiness, in psychology, a state of emotional well-being that a person experiences either in a narrow sense, when good things happen in a specific moment, or more broadly, as a positive evaluation of one’s life and accomplishments overall—that is, subjective well-being. Happiness can be distinguished both from negative emotions (such as sadness, fear, and anger) and also from other positive emotions (such as affection, excitement, and interest). This emotion often co-occurs with a specific facial expression: the smile.
Oh Britannica what a riddle of words, the last part though.. that's concise! "Happiness" is a concept that without words you would express with a little head wiggling and a smile on your face. What is a "smile" it's a "U" shape.
WTF IS THIS CRAZZYNESS!!
To bring in our bitcoin metaphors as is becoming a habit in these posts, let's think about code again. In code a word or an expression is made up of binary. And it just so happens that binary is a very basic metaphor. It can be expressed by the presence or the absence of a thing. A person without speaking, can put a thing on the table in front of you, look you in the eye, put it behind their back, look you in the eye again, then hold it in their hand and make a question gesture. Now you have a binary proposition, a binary metaphor without words.
For most programmers looking at binary does not convey much meaning and even if it does it takes a long time to figure it out. You might be able to pick up numbers, letters and basic instructions, but you would need to read a long line and then put it all together to see the functional meaning of it and this would take a lot more time than looking at the higher levels of code.
Similarly, it's easy to lose the meaning of a word because we are stacking metaphors. Doing iterative cycles, getting meta, even in the act of speaking, and you can lose track of which layer, which inception, is the base layer, is closest to the source, this is what makes good communication such a challenge. The base layer is the most true, with every layer of abstraction, each loop, and with the 'embed codes' you get distortion and noise, more possibilities for errors and vulnerabilities. So as in computer programming and code the same thing can happen in language and communication. We also see this in the evolution of the law, physics, and nature, but that is another blog post, for now, I just want to get into how this is fundamental in our thinking.
So.. how about we use this to do something productive!!??.... Suck on this ChatGPT. "What is the meaning of life?" I am going to write my answer and then see what the AI's answer is, no strike that I will use my self-hosted AI! I am predicting that it will be a long yucky one from the AI machines because I don't think it has Grok'd the fundamentals metaphors of language yet and that it is hamstrung by the binary metaphor, where humans have metaphors that are much more varied and in a way multidimensional.
To me the meaning of life is simple, it can be answered in the same way you would answer the meaning of any other word. This leads me to think the meaning of life is simply, to create more life.
To explain this I can define a 'word' as a tool used to bring on the idea of that which it describes, and the context, where generally the whole of humanity is the broadest view.
Now what does the AI say?
Marx-3b-V2 says
"The meaning of life can be understood in many ways. It’s a complex concept that involves understanding our purpose, goals and values on this planet. The idea behind it also includes exploring different perspectives to find happiness within ourselves or with others around us.
Life is an ongoing process where we are constantly evolving and learning new things about the world around us. This constant change can be seen as a positive thing because it allows for growth, adaptation, and improvement in our lives. However, there’s also negative aspects to life such as death or loss of loved ones which could potentially cause depression if not properly managed by therapy or other forms of treatment available today.
The meaning of life is often subjective and varies from person to person based on their beliefs, values, experiences, etc. Some people may believe that the purpose of life is simply to survive while others might think it’s more about finding happiness within themselves through personal growth or contributing positively towards society by doing good deeds like helping those in need without expecting anything in return."
Ahaha, it sucks so much it is almost a glitch. When you only have binary I suspect it is difficult to think. You end up throwing up long-winded definitions with more and more nested contradictions.
Human metaphor in contrast to this mechanical binary logic, is so it turns out metaphysical. We defined a word with itself again, but somehow we can comprehend that loop and it is clear. A fractal structure that makes sense. Metaphysics comes to a point where they cross over with normal physics and this is at the quantum level. Here comes Schrodinger's cat, or as bitcoiners, is it more like the Bazentine general's problem? Some will just say it's word salad. I don't want to fall into the same trap that Marx-3b-V2 did.
Either way, our thoughts can easily be held in a state of superposition, and this allows for better definitions and more accurate communication. Something less defined can often be more defined. A word can be formed through gestures that are wordless, and undefinable. Even without knowing it, we are quantum and different from the AI, because we can handle the meta loops. We can see a structure of fractals and accept a possibility for accuracy. Computers find this difficult, they often just regard more lines of code as more accurate.
I think humans can always have an edge on AI because of this and I hope this helps others be empowered with clearer thought now. There are many questions left they can go on indefinitely, but happiness, and the meaning of life are best left to rest in their own metaphor now. Thanks for reading.
