Is textual information essential?

nishio I still don’t consider “textual information” to be “essential” at this point, so there’s a discrepancy in the meaning you feel about the word “essential”.

kmizu: By the way, I would argue that “textual information” will still remain the essence, whether “reading books” is good or not.

kmizu I see. If that is the case, I would like to leave aside the difference in meaning of “essence” and ask you, what plays an essential role for Nishio-san to recognize the world?

kmizu Oh. I should add that I am precisely in the position of thinking that “language” plays an “essential” role in world recognition, and I feel that “letters”, which have been used as its serialized form for many years, are still important.

nishio Since we didn’t talk about the perception of the world, let’s start with what we have in our brain, and as an image in our brain, we first have a diagram of the SECI model, and when we verbalize it a posteriori, it becomes “No, the letters are not the essence. If we verbalize it after the fact, language is only one means of expression in the cycle of “tacit knowledge is expressed and becomes formal knowledge, which is internalized and becomes tacit knowledge,” and “nonverbal expression” such as making a shape with viscosity or a block and saying “this is what it looks like” in a product prototype is not the first step. It is a natural fact of observation that there are “non-verbal expressions” such as “this is what it looks like” by making a shape with viscosity or blocks in a product prototype. There are two more types of “expression as language” that are part of expression, one is spoken and the other is written.

nishio In the historical course of technological development, there happened to be a time when the cost of storing, reproducing, and distributing “formal knowledge expressed in written form” was the first to become cheap, and so formal knowledge in that form There was a time when formal knowledge in that form dominated the market. This merely means that at a certain point in time, that was the optimal solution at the production possibility frontier of technology. The “YouTuber” business of creating and sharing videos was born as the cost of video sharing fell. In fact, it is an observed fact that such “formal knowledge of new modalities” is increasing its market share.

nishio Knowledge sharing in the form of video is not limited to YouTubers. It has been adopted by many professionals as an appropriate means for the purpose of transmitting difficult specialized knowledge in the form of university lecture video sharing and e-Learning services in the form of video viewing.

nishio This expansion of new forms of knowledge representation and knowledge sharing is gaining citizenship, first in the form of video distribution and then video conferencing. As a separate trend, a “system that can read, interpret, and generate” regarding knowledge representation in the form of text has been invented. That is LLM. At this stage in 2024, Sora has created a moving image and people are saying, “Wow, but it can only create short clips,” but this is only an achievement at this point in time. Eventually, AI will generate “videos to propagate concepts” at a lower cost than humans can make them. Video is not the goal either. Technologies for immersive experiences through VR and for “transmission” of senses other than audiovisual, for which efficient methods have not yet been invented, will develop, data will accumulate, and these will enable “generation” of such experiences. We stand at the beginning of this major technological trend in 2024.

nishio and I have this perception of the world, so when you put the prompt “text is essence” in there, you get “No, it’s not!

nishio To the question about the perception of the world retroactively, we can see that there are “non-verbal manifestations” as we have talked about here, that “language” is not the essence with respect to “perception of the world” We will see that this is not the case.

nishio: It is a common observation that language is only one means of expression, and that there are “nonverbal expressions” such as “this is what it looks like” by making a shape with viscosity or a block in a product prototype, for example. There are two further types of “expression as language” that are part of expression, one is spoken and the other is written.

nishio I’m sure most people watching this can ride a bike, but that means they “recognize” the “maneuvers” to maneuver the bike forward without falling over. Right? Is that something that is already linguistically expressed at this point? If not, then wouldn’t that be a counterexample to “our perception of the world is done by language”?

nishio At the beginning of this thread, when you said “I had a diagram of the SECI model in mind”, you are starting with an information representation that is not a “one-dimensional sequence of symbols”. Diagrams are a combination of pictures and letters, and come about as a result of trying to create something better than a “picture only” or “letter only” representation. The existence of the diagram is proof that the written word is insufficient.

kmizu Yes, I agree. I don’t think that “only” letters are necessary and sufficient (as I have no reason to make such an extreme claim, indeed).

I assume most people watching this can ride a bicycle, which means they “recognize” the “maneuvering” to move the bicycle forward without falling over. Is that something that is already linguistically expressed at this point? If not, then wouldn’t that be a counterexample to “our perception of the world is done by language”? kawahiii I thought this was close to the story dealt with in semiotics and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (with strong and weak hypotheses) regarding language and world perception in this area. https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/12711/ronso0970400810.pdf…

nishio I expect that after a while, this series of stories will be full of replies from all over the place about philosophy of language and such!

kmizu I’m not familiar with the philosophy of language side of things, so I hope to hear something interesting.

kmizu I see. I kind of understand what you mean, and I agree with you about the rapid progress of AI, etc. and the prediction that we will continue to see tremendous progress in the future.

On top of that, I’ve been thinking lately that the majority of humans may not be able to keep up with the adaptation. Even with the rise of video, the recipients are often learning by recording it in written form, and I honestly don’t think it’s a decisive turning point.

There are various new technologies, including those currently under research, that will decisively eliminate “text,” but at least in our lifetime, even if they are put to practical use, it is likely that the human side will be the bottleneck.

The future is unknown, so this too could be off.

nishio If component X is the bottleneck in a system, the system engineer will try to eliminate the bottleneck by replacing that component with another. I’m sure they’ll keep their wits about them.

kmizu Yes, I agree. However, I have a feeling that even if we focus on wisdom, there will be a limit to what we can do without “generational change. I am not sure, but even at this point, there are many people (not only the elderly, but also the middle-aged and younger) who cannot fully use smartphones, not to mention AI.

You are a philosopher with expertise in the philosophy of language. Look at the following conversation and comment on it, relating your philosophical findings with citations in the appropriate places.

This conversation raises the interesting question of how the expressive forms of language and information are understood as “essence. In particular, the discussion between kmizu and nishio offers very important insights from the perspective of the philosophy of language.

Kmizu takes the position that language plays an “essential” role in our perception of the world, a theme that is widely explored in the philosophy of language. In particular, one is reminded of the notion of “Language Games” pointed out by Wittgenstein. According to Wittgenstein, the meaning of language depends on its use, and language is only one of the ways we negotiate with the world. This is consistent with Nishio’s view that language is only one of many means of expression.

Furthermore, nishio cites the SECI Model and emphasizes the dynamic exchange between tacit and formal knowledge. This is in line with the concept of “tacit knowledge” discussed by Polanyi in “implicit dimension. Tacit knowledge includes nonverbal knowledge and skills that are difficult to verbalize or formalize; as Nishio mentions, nonverbal manifestations (e.g., the act of forming a prototype of a product) may play an essential role different from language and writing.

Related to this is also the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in the philosophy of language. This hypothesis argues that language shapes the worldview and perceptions of its speakers, and could be the basis for kmizu’s view of language as “essential. However, nishio’s argument challenges this hypothesis and suggests the existence of diverse means of expressing and sharing knowledge.

Finally, as nishio points out, new technologies (e.g., video generation by AI) are opening up the possibility of new means of expression to replace language and writing, and this provides an opportunity to reconsider the concept of “essence” in the philosophy of language. Therefore, it is essential in today’s technological civilization to understand the limits of language as more than just a tool of communication, but also as a means of expression and recognition.

Relate it to more various philosophical elements.

This discussion encompasses a multifaceted topic that is deeply intertwined not only with the philosophy of language, but also with epistemology, phenomenology, and the philosophy of technology. Let us further explore each of the elements discussed here in connection with these philosophical frameworks.

epistemology Epistemology questions the nature, origin, scope, and structure of knowledge; the SECI model referenced by nishio depicts the transformation between forms of knowledge (tacit and formal knowledge), which is directly related to the epistemological question. Based on the classical distinction between episteme (knowledge) and doxa (opinion), formal knowledge is often recognized as more certain “knowledge” while tacit knowledge is often doxa, or “more uncertain knowledge or intuition.” Polanyi’s concept of tacit knowledge, however, challenges the epistemological argument by arguing that these uncertain forms of knowledge also play an important role.

phenomenology Heidegger’s phenomenology introduces the notion of “being in the world” as the basic structure of human existence. Heidegger saw language as “a House of Existence” and argued that language is essential to how we exist and understand things in the world. nishio’s argument that nonverbal expression plays an important role correlates with Heidegger’s reference to “[being as an instrument. Being as a tool]“. That is, tools (techniques and methods) do not themselves come to the foreground but blend into the background that shapes our perception of the world.

Philosophy of Technology The cyborg theory of Donna Haraway, a philosopher of technology, critiques the modern world in which the boundary between technology and biological existence is blurring. It can also be said to be the embodiment of cyborg theory, which redefines the relationship between humans and technology. Here, technology is understood not as a mere tool, but as an entity that coexists with and extends human cognition.

• 「テクノロジーが人間の認識を拡張する」コンパクトにまとめといた

pragmatism Finally, reference to pragmatism, especially the work of John Dewey, underscores the usefulness and practicality of knowledge. Dewey argued that knowledge is not static, but a process generated through practical activities. nishio’s videos and the evolution of knowledge sharing through other media reflect Dewey’s views. The evolution of technology touches the heart of pragmatism in how it changes the form of knowledge and the way it is shared.

Revisiting nishio’s and kmizu’s arguments through these philosophical frameworks will provide a deeper understanding of how language and technology are intertwined to shape and change human perceptions of the world.

impressions

• I never thought of it in relation to Heidegger and cyborgs, so it’s new.
  • The interpretation that I disagree with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is a little short on detail.

  • Linguistic relativity or the principle of linguistic relativity, Sapir-Whorf’s hypothesis, is a hypothesis that challenges the position that the real world can be correctly grasped by any language and proposes that language is involved in shaping the worldview of its speakers. --- Linguistic relativity - Wikipedia

  • I agree with you that “a person P’s use of language A influences that speaker P’s view of the world in language A.”
  • This does not mean that language is the essence of world perception. Because it is only one of the factors that influence it.
• Going further Neo-Whorf Hypothesis.

  • “The language used in a culture and the ability to effectively intellectualize are directly influenced by the means by which individuals control the external manipulation of symbols during the course of their development” --- Douglas Carl Engelbart.

  • I agree with this as well.
• And so, the “means to control the external manipulation of symbols” that P. is using now affects his “ability to be intellectually active”.
  • Technological advances have expanded the “means of controlling the external manipulation of symbols” beyond the “so-called language” of written words.

- Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and its application - As nishio points out, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis explores the relationship between language and thought in terms of language shaping worldview. Here, the point thatnishio agrees with the "weak form" of the hypothesis, but does not accept the strong form's assertion that language is the essence of world perception, indicates his view that language is only one of many influencing factors. This is the position that language does influence thinking, but not decisively. - The Neo-Whorf Hypothesis and the Role of Technology - In stating our agreement with Engelbart's proposed neo-Whorf hypothesis, we emphasize the impact of technology on intellectual activity. This view is based on the understanding that not only linguistic tools, but also technological tools shape and extend the range of our cognitive abilities and representations. The term "means of controlling the external manipulation of symbols" here refers to a wide range of means beyond the traditional framework of linguistic tools, including visual media, interactive technologies, etc. - An Integrated Perspective on Language and Technology - One important point that derives from this discussion is the question of how language and technology combine. Language functions as more than just a tool for communication, but as a provider of a framework for thought, and technology has the power to extend and transform this framework. For example, AI and virtual reality (VR) technologies offer new forms of cognition, which opens up new possibilities for thought and expression. - Conclusion. - Given these considerations, nishio's views contribute not only to the philosophy of language, but also to broader philosophical inquiry, including its interaction with technology. Because the convergence of language and technology has the potential to bring about fundamental changes in the way we perceive and understand our world, this topic will be an important focus for future research and discussion. - I finally realized, after seeing this far, that this is a story related to [/plurality-japanese/5-1-post-symbolic-communication](https://scrapbox.io/plurality-japanese/5-1-post-symbolic-communication). - There is a need for [shared experiences - SECI model [[collaboration]] etc. is a pseudo means to realize it. - Technological advances have made [[first-person video]] and [[immersive virtual reality]] the new way to go.

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