Why is there always a misunderstanding on the Internet? About language limit

byNicola Albertini

"Things that can not be spoken must be silent" "The human body is the best possible photograph of the soul" "The limits of the language are limitations of the world", but meaningless words that are meaningless only by glance LeftLudwig WittgensteinHe is known as a philosopher, but he was a well-versed person in engineering and mathematics. Despite having worked before the development of artificial intelligence and computer science, Wittgenstein's philosophy says, "Why do misunderstandings arise due to Internet interaction?" And "How artificial intelligence evolves Hints to understand that "?" Are hidden.

Take a Wittgenstein class: He explains the problems of translating language, computer science, and artificial intelligence.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/classes/2015/09/take_a_wittgenstein_class_he_explains_the_problems_of_translating_language.html

Wittgenstein will run a tremor in the philosophical world "Logic Philosophy Discussion(Discussion)That was published in 1912. Discussion is also a philosopher and a mathematicianBertrand RussellIt inherited Mr.'s argument, developed Wittgenstein's original theory, and given a great impact to the logical positivism at the time. And in recent years, the discussion is not only a philosophical book but also influences fields such as computer science, artificial intelligence and cognitive science.

To briefly argue, the book which tried to clearly show the relation between the world and the language. In the book Wittgenstein mentioned the idea that "language is strictly copying the world, language and world have the same logical form, words will function as world" statues ". In other words, words and facts correspond exactly, and definitions exist there. thisFormal logicThinking for decades has been the basis of computer scientists and cognitive scientists' thinking.

But after announcing the paper, Wittgenstein will leave philosophy and make a living as an elementary school teacher or an architect, but during that time the way of thinking will change drastically. In other words, it comes to think that the word is not objectively and deliberately delineated, it does not correspond exactly to the facts of the real world by logic. The words we emit can not be meaningless without the background of sentences. That's because not "from the fact that we do not know the definition", but "there is no definition itself". The concept of words we use can not be regarded as limiting per se. this is"Philosophy inquiry"Although it was summarized in a book called" the word shows a single thing "the content was completely opposite.


The idea of ​​philosophy exploration further complicated linguistics. In order to investigate the meaning of words, it is necessary to analyze not only the definition but also the situations in which words are used and how they are used. In addition, Wittgenstein says that there are "rules" when people use words everyday, but this "rule" is even more difficult. I was studying Wittgenstein's philosophyDavid PearsAccording to the interpretation of the professor, the "rule" is the same as applying the law at the time the judge makes a judgment, depending on "how the applicable law was used in the past" and the future trial It is explained that there is a possibility that it will become a new precedent that governs the situation.

In other words, words do not have strict definitions, and by overlapping history over time, they will evolve their existence while acquiring new meanings or abandoning old meanings. Therefore, even if it is a word in a dictionary, meaning changes every moment, it is "not literally meaning" in the dictionary.

This point, especially the complicated noun is an abstract meaning. As far as the word "dog" is used consistently, it is impossible for anyone to define "love" and "weight" in a clear way. Nevertheless, we use the word "love" on a daily basis. Mr. Pears explained, "The" firm meaning "that we are assuming when we use epic words is fantasy."


For example, in French, "here" is said to be "ici", "over there" is "la`", but if the word "pen is here" is made French it will be "Le stylo est la". "French" "la`" is for use with a specific place or position. On the other hand, in the case of Japanese and English, it is possible to use the word "here" or the word "over there" pointing to a vague place. For those who learn French for the first time, this difference seems ambiguous, but for those who have French as their mother tongue, they are obvious. Because there is no one to do such a usage. Despite someone not deciding a clear rule, French people recognize the correctness of things in a way different from those who have English as their mother tongue, due to human consciousness and the interrelationship of the world There is. This is the relationship between words and the world.

In the 1970 's, based on the formal logical idea, computers were considered to be able to understand natural languages ​​by allowing them to judge the correctness of propositions, but the experiment ended in failure.

Meanwhile, GoogleSemanticsBy neglecting, we succeeded in developing artificial intelligence. In other words, in the case of Google, we do not make artificial intelligence understand the meaning of words and sentences, but based on the point that "words frequently appear in sentences" and "what words are used together" It got artificial intelligence to gather words.

byA Health Blog

To understand the meaning of the words, you can answer the question "How many ounces is a pound?", But to answer the question "Is President Obama what year is in office?" Accurate answer You can not. We will pick up the words "Obama" "Year" "Inauguration" and will tell you the explanation of President Obama and the information on the inauguration ceremony, but it can be said that it is far from "understanding the question". This problem is summarized in one remark by Wittgenstein that "Understanding the sentence is to understand the words."

Wittgenstein's philosophy also explains about communication on the Internet. The exchange of words on the Internet is more problematic than "daily life" with "distortion of words" and furthermore people have problems that they do not understand it. The way of interaction is more limited, more universal, and more ambiguous. People who do dialogue are overflowing without understanding that the rules of the words owned by them are separate from each other, and the number of words and time is limited, so that I can not afford to explain my definition.

byMelina Sampaio Manfrinatti

For this reason controversy often occurs on the Internet. When disputes arise about rights, feminism and racial discrimination, people do not even ascertain the definitions of words they use. When someone is furious with your remarks on the Internet, it is necessary to first clarify the definition of the words before interacting with the other party, but once the emotional one is obediently convinced about the definition Since there is little possibility of coming, the only way to close the mouth is to lose the means.