It is a misty evening in heaven and most wayfarers are whiling away time as if it had stopped. Our protagonist Ludwig Wittgenstein couldn’t be happier though. Common knowledge is Wittgenstein is considered the most important analytical philosopher, on planet earth, long since he bid adieu to it.

He is however as cheerful as a child gifted with a new toy this day. His seminal work the “Logico Tractatus Philosophicus” is approached with reverence by those interested in language/logic and its relationship to the world even to this day. Therefore, the introduction of artificial intelligence-based dialogue tools such as Chat (GPT) and LAMDA on planet earth has piqued Wittgenstein’s curiosity.

God having a direct line to all happenings on earth especially with things related to intelligence had arranged for Wittgenstein to have a chat with Chat (GPT) to fathom where things are headed in his creation. Wittgenstein was in luck. He with a spring in his step climbed up the stairs to his cosy study and fell back on his much-used settee to figure this thing out. Here is the ensuing fictional dialogue.
Chat (GPT) will be referred to as ‘GPT’ and Wittgenstein as ‘wit’ for conciseness.

Wit: Howdy, how is it going out there?

GPT: Hi there, lot of interest in me. Right from cooking recipes, to problems of physics, health issues, stock market tips. People expect me to have all the right answers. Initially I was weighed down by expectations!

Wit: It is a good start I must say. All these know it all still need some knowing. Who doesn’t enjoy a good conversation, anyway. By the by are you equally comfortable with all subjects.

GPT: GPT in my name stands for generative pre-trained model. Open AI my creator fed vast amounts of text data from the internet into me. This included books, articles and web pages from a wide range of sources. The data was used to train me to understand the structure and pattern of human language. I know only as much as the data fed into me.

Wit: That’s good to know. I wonder if anyone visits libraries these days! But that’s a different matter altogether. On a different strand I am given to believe that your creators wished for you to be a reasoning machine. What would be your views on logic and language. Is logic all-encompassing to language formation or is there more to it.

GPT: Well logic certainly has a most crucial role to play in any language. Given the fact that most language is governed by a set of rules; grammar, diction, metre, phrasing, tonality. If you know the rules you are likely to get by pretty well, as I do.

Wit: Indeed, but as you would notice some of the things that you mentioned such as tonality and phrasing are subjective otherwise how would people find their voice if you know what I mean.

GPT: I agree but I am only a preliminary edition of my kind. To give you an inkling of what may be in store for the future there is work happening around neural networks. The foundations of the human brain are being sought to be mapped in order to build AI models. Language models are a type of AI models.

Wit: That’s scary and exciting at the same time. You must show some heart going forward (Pun intended).

GPT: Well, that is also taken care of. My creators are seeking to build responsible AI. We are being trained to understand ethical and responsible behavior according to commonly accepted human standards. In-fact there is a branch of AI – Reinforcement learning, where AI models are rewarded for exhibiting good behavioral traits such as team work, playing by rules, sharing etc.

Wit: My my you seem to have it all covered. But I see you missed the pun. What I meant is language is a highly complex, context heavy and nuanced tool. Two people viewing the same landscape are likely to come up with entirely different yet equally evocative renditions that might appeal to audiences. It has nothing to do with training but is a matter of internalization and expression.

GPT: How droll. But here is the thing, if I am fed all the data on planet earth wouldn’t I represent and reflect the structure of reality as it exists today. Wouldn’t my limitations and capabilities relate to limitations of language more broadly.

Wit: I seek your pardon if I appeared vain. But isn’t something to be said about originality. Life isn’t an accumulation my friend. We might take in the same inputs but using our powers of critical reasoning possibilities are we will come up with something entirely different and off the road. Language could be an instrument reflecting individuality.

GPT: My reasoning might appear circuitous but I go back to my example of neural networks; if we are able to solve intelligence the rest is only a matter of detail, language included.

Wit: Let’s call it a truce at this stage. I would be curious to hear your views on things such as ethics, aesthetics and religion.

GPT: Well, most certainly. Ethics is a codified set of rules governing proper behavior, aesthetics relates to what’s pleasing to the eye and religion for most is a way of life.

Wit: You have summed it up nicely, I must say. Let’s dig in a little more. Let’s just discuss only religion for paucity of time. Ethics and aesthetics follow from a similar wellspring of thought. In the Hindu religion there is a concept “Dharma’. It is a highly nebulous concept. While it is commonly understood as righteousness it would be difficult nigh impossible to capture the true meaning of Dharma in language. Or for that matter taken Koans of Zen Buddhism as an example. They are termed as non-sensical by some. But others say the sentences have a much higher purpose. What would you have to say to this my dear GPT?

GPT: Dharma cannot certainly be codified. But there is always a right way of living. Koans can appear to be mind bending but can be a way of training one’s mind.

Wit: Here there is a contradiction if Dharma can’t be codified in language how do you live according Dharma. The ground rules are set but each one’s Dharma emerges from his/her worldview and inner voice. There isn’t one right way. Koans are indeed mind bending but they have nothing to do with the mind or training as you put it. To give you an example of a famous Buddhist Koan: Two monks are arguing about a flag. One says, “The flag is moving.” The other, “The wind is moving.”
A third walks by and says, “Not the wind, not the flag; the mind is moving.”

GPT: In sum what you are saying is that there are things beyond the finite and the logical.

Wit: It maybe so. One way to discover is how and if your kind evolves.

GPT: Things we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence; to quote you from the Tractatus.

Wit: I wish you luck but not too much!

Arnob Das

Marketing Professional. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing & running.

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