PTH wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:47 am
Syntax is not semantics.
PTH wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:47 am
Your mistake is using the term "meaning" in an allegorical sense.
Contradiction.
allegory.
noun. a story, poem, or picture that can be
interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.
"syntax is not semantics" is an allegorical claim in light of your previous statements.
PTH wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2019 10:15 pm
And, sometimes, meaning is the cause.
PTH wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:17 pm
Unless our contention is that no-one, ever, was influenced enough to change their behaviour because of something they read.
If syntax is not semantics, then you are necessarily claiming that you have the power to extract "hidden meaning" from the English sentences you read, and that this "extracted hidden meaning" influences your behaviour.
If syntax is not semantics, then you are further suggesting that there is a "hidden meaning" in the English phrase "Alexa, please turn off the lights", that Alexa has special access to that meaning, and that this "hidden meaning" has causal effect on Alexa's behaviour and on my lights.
You are arguing for telepathy and you are suggesting that Alexa is capable of mind-reading.
I am using "meaning" in the literal sense that I claimed to be using it. The meaning of "Alexa, please turn off the lights." is captured in its entirety in the intention (and subsequent consequences) of those words. And I would know that to be true for I spoke those words and I know what those words mean.
This is testable and falsifiable. It meets the criterion of the scientific/empirical epistemology. If your epistemic standard is different - please state it.
You are burrowing yourself deeper and deeper into the realm of magical thinking - if that's what you want to achieve, I'll get you a shovel.
Otherwise, you could just settle for nihilism and Occam's razor - Alexa is a
primitive NLP algorithm.
The way I see it, you have two choices. If words are meaningful and a difference engine can understand the meaning of words then:
1. Meaning doesn't exist.
2. Meaning exists and difference engine is conscious
You've either lost a battle or a war - choose which one.