PP16 Words are Labels for Patterns G'day, my name is Bruce Robertson and this is Pirate Philosophy. In this series of videos, I will be describing an original philosophy, one that you won't find anywhere else but it is one that is logical, rigorous and dynamic. Welcome.
In this video I want to show how language and communication can emerge from the foundation of the Pattern Paradigm philosophy that has been described over the course of these videos. And through this process to get a better understanding of what language and communication are. We have this wonderful gift of language and the communication that it makes possible. And it is one that none of our distant relatives in the animal kingdom possess. This is perhaps the defining difference between humans and all other animals. It means that we can share ideas; we don't have to work out everything for ourselves; instead we can learn from other people various ways to do things and facts of the world.
And in this way, human knowledge, through speech and writing, can accumulate so that we can learn more and more about the world. And in this video, I'll be referring specifically to the human language of speech and writing and I will be using the English language to communicate the ideas. So in other words, I won't be including body language, sign language and all these other things. And while other animals do communicate with each other; that is not the form of communication that I will be talking about.
This journey into philosophy began in the video 'PP8 As Deep as You can Go' where the idea of a simple logical processor was postulated. (I'll put a link below to that video).And it was shown in video 'PP9 Patterns Time and Space'(again, I'll put a link to that video below) that the only possible way to generate a link between sense-data and ideas about the world is through a process of pattern-identification. And when I talk about a pattern, I am referring to the simplest unit of a pattern that is capable of reproducing the data. And then once one has identified a quantity of these patterns, one can use a recursive process by which patterns can be created from a quantity of other patterns by using the pre-existing patterns as input to the pattern-identification process, to form new patterns and something like a pyramid of patterns can be created. Have a look at video 'PP10 Pyramids of Patterns' for further details, (again I'll put a link in below).
At the higher part of this 'pyramid of patterns', patterns can be given labels that can be communicated as words.
And so that is what words are; words are labels for patterns. And the essential part of language is the ability to articulate unique sounds, which represent labels for patterns in one's pyramid of patterns'. And then, when there is a commonality among people of those sounds which represent similar patterns in their pyramid or patterns, then one can achieve communication between people.
People learn this commonality as children by identifying an object or an action and then being told what the sound or name associated with that object or action (within their particular community) is. The English learn that a tree is a 'tree', the French call it something else. In this way, children learn their language and this proceeds into adulthood, with more and more words being identified with their patterns. And of course, along with this, the child learns the grammar associated with that language, i.e the order in which to put words and where to put prepositions and conjunctions to convey simple messages clearly and unambiguously.
An important point with regard to the philosophy of this is that the connection between the words and the things that they are purported to represent is a long and complex one. Starting from the word: the word is linked to a person's pyramid of patterns as an identifying label and the particular pattern to which it is linked is one that is built upon a hierarchy of patterns, within their pyramid of patterns, that goes down to the fundamental interpretations of sense-data. So for example, the word 'tree' would be linked to a person's pyramid of patterns, to the particular pattern that is labeled 'tree' and that pattern would be based upon visual patterns that perhaps relate to the shape, texture and other features of a tree; and then when put together these create the pattern that is labeled 'tree'. Beneath those patterns for shape, texture, etc, would be a pattern that would identify the interpretation of light, shadow, perspective and so on and that leads to the three dimensional picture of a tree. And beneath this is the raw sense-data that enters the eye. And that is as far as it goes.
As discussed in video 'PP11 Foundations of Reality and Purpose' (to which I'll put a link below),when the pattern for tree is used to interact with the world-beyond-our-senses to find food or shelter, then it is natural and commonplace to consider that things such as the tree are real, or actually 'exist'. In this way, it is natural and commonplace to consider that the word tree actually corresponds to something that is real. But as we have seen and as was mentioned before, it is a long and complex series of connections between the word 'tree' and the thing which is considered to be a real representation of that word. And the same goes for every word in the English language that purports to refer to something that is 'real'.
So now having a shared and comprehensive vocabulary two people can communicate with each other in amazing ways, sharing information, not only about the world but also about their inner selves.
And communication is a two stage process; it requires a transmitter or speaker or writer as the first stage and a receiver or listener or reader as the second stage. And what can be communicated? Information, instructions, orders, ideas, jokes, philosophy; whatever you like. And why communicate? Well, there are many benefits of communication; and perhaps the most significant one is learning about the material world and the technology that emanates from that. The technology we have today would be completely impossible without a comprehensive language. And of course, the explosion of knowledge was hugely facilitated by the invention of writing; written words being a representation of the sound of normal speech.
But what is the essential logic behind the desire to communicate? How is the little logical processor, whose journey we have been describing, going to decide when to speak and when to remain silent?
Well, in video 'PP13 The logic of Decision-Making', an algorithm was put forward that crudely described how a decision could be made and a subsequent action effected. I'll put this on the screen very briefly and I will also copy that algorithm here:
Decision Making Algorithm
1. Assemble all possible actions for this decision
2. Select one possible action
3. Assemble all possible consequences of this action
4. Select one possible consequence.
Estimate the likelihood or probability that the consequence will occur.
Estimate the happiness (or unhappiness) that one might expect from that consequence in both the short term and the long-term. (Use some arbitrary units and put on a scale say from -10 ( extreme unhappiness) to +10 (maximum happiness).
Calculate the product of the probability by the estimated happiness to arrive at an overall expected value for the happiness of that consequence.
If There are more possible consequences loop back to ‘4’, else continue
Add all the Expected happinesses for each possible consequence to arrive at a combined expected happiness for this action and store this value alongside a description of the action
If there are more possible actions loop back to ‘2’, else continue
From the stored values of expected happiness find the one with the highest value.
Select the action that is associated with this value.
Execute the action.
Deciding to communicate and enacting that decision, falls within the domain of general decision-making; and so this algorithm will apply to some degree or other. And it may seem fairly trivial to ask someone to "pass me a spanner", but the same logic is applicable to this as to ask someone for a hand in marriage. It is a logical process of decision-making and an essential part of the process is that the aim or purpose of the decision is to maximize the happiness of the little logical processor or the person that is always, subconsciously perhaps, wanting to maximize their happiness; and that is the essential logic behind it.
Once the decision to communicate has been made the appropriate pattern for that communication can be assembled and the labels arranged in a grammatically meaningful form and then transmitted as a string of sounds or words.
The logic for the receiver of the communication as to what decision and action to take following the transmitter sending the communication is slightly more complex, as it requires a process of interpreting or translating the words of the communication, and there may be some ambiguity or uncertainty as to that interpretation. But, assuming that the receiver has made some sort of sense from the communication, how is the receiver to respond, if at all, to the communication? Well, again it follows the logic of the decision-making algorithm already described. the receiver of the communication will make a decision and effect an action based upon their model of the world and how they can maximize their happiness. And of course, this is a complex process and one that would be unique to each individual.
Broadly speaking, there would seem to be two main categories for the use of communication which it might be useful to distinguish and separate.
1.Working with other people towards a common goal. So, communication in this area would be referring to the present; 'let's do this', 'help me with that', that sort of thing.
2. Learning from other people as to how one can improve one's understanding of the world.
So, in category 1, one would get things like requests, commands and warnings. Whereas in category 2, one would get things like information possibilities, stories, jokes and opinions.
And perhaps it is important to note that the receiver does not know, with certainty, what the motivation of the transmitter is; nor what the details of the decision-making process were by which the transmitter decided to transmit the communication. However, the receiver does have a choice in determining how to respond to the communication. And the possible choices will include those that may seem to be counterintuitive. A command does not have to be treated as a command, any more than an intended insult has to be treated as an insult. And facts, opinions and general information do not have to be believed or incorporated into one's pyramid of patterns, at least not without some due process of verification. And another factor that is associated with this is the question of whether the purported facts are potentially significant or merely trivial. So for example, if someone was talking about an axe murderer being present in the district, that would be important and significant and if they're talking about a stain on the carpet, well, that's fairly trivial.
Communication is a 2-person process; there is a transmitter and a receiver; though these two people could be separated by time and space. The communications of Plato, for example, can still be received today. And the writer of an encyclopedia is a transmitter and the reader of the encyclopedia is a receiver. The transmitter and receiver may even be the same person separated over time, say by writing something in a diary that the person might want to recall later; It is still a communication. And language, specifically here the English language, is a medium by which such communications can be effected.
Well, that pretty much sums up what I want to say about language and communication in this video.
The main points are:
That words or labels for patterns.
That Communication is a two person process.
There is a transmitter, one who translates their ideas in their pyramid of patterns into a grammatically correct arrangement of the labels for those patterns, i.e the words, and then transmits them.
Then there is a receiver who takes the words and associates them with labels for patterns in their own pyramid of patterns, and tries to make sense of them. The receiver then processes the information through some form of decision-making process and thus decide how to respond to the communication in a way that they consider will maximize their happiness.
This approach to language and communication follows smoothly and logically from the original precepts of the Pattern Paradigm philosophy; which included the supposition of a logical processor trying to interact with the world and to make sense of the world, and now, much later, to communicate with other logical processors.
Well, that is all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed the video. If you have any interesting comments or questions about today's video, please leave them in the comment section below and if you would like to continue this journey with me, please subscribe to my channel, give it a thumbs up and ring the bell.
Thank you.
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