< welcome to stupid >

[Wjames]

   



                                < welcome to stupid >

                        language isn't just words
                        language is instructions for thinking

                        language is a program that when run
                        produces thinking

                        the process of understanding language
                        is the process of learning to think I think about how learning a new language is like learning a new way of thinking. I am only fluent in English, but I would like to know how thinking in a different language may influence the thoughts/conclusions you might arrive at.

                        something that understands language
                        is something that thinks.

                        nobody had a clue that this was the case
                        until
                [=4]  they got these large language models working

                        there was shock and surprise that these things
                        didn't just translate language

                        when you asked them a question
                        they fucking answered back

                        large language models don't highlight
                        how complex our computers are

                        large language models
                        betray

                        how little work our brain is doing

                        how simple it is
                        for us to think 

                                    - - -






    cookie cutter - Diamond Flower Inc., China
    photograph - ray heinrich


Time Line (Approximate Dates CE unless noted)

13.7 billion BCE - Bang
4.5 billion BCE - Earth
3.7 billion BCE - Life

226 million BCE - Mosquito
190 million BCE - Frog
145 million BCE - Poison ivy
82 million BCE - Velociraptor
55 million BCE - Primates
50 million BCE - Flea
37 million BCE - Cat
20 million BCE - Toad

2 million BCE - Homo habili
250 thousand BCE - Homo sapien
3,500 BCE - Wheel
3,400 BCE - Writing
1,650 BCE - Epic of Gilgamesh
760 BCE - Iliad
649 BCE - Quran
362 BCE - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu
7 BCE - Hebrew Bible
5 BCE - Jesus Christ

24 - New Testament
326 - Life of Apollonius of Tyana - Philostratu
510 - Confessions - Saint Augustine
720 - Nihon Shoki
953 - Beowulf
1066 - Frog invasion
1211 - Genghis Khan's youngest brother Temüge
1596 - Flush toilet
1608 - Milton
1804 - Jaccard loom
1810 - Canned food
1858 - Can opener
1893 - Electric toaster

1947 - Kitty litter
1952 - Douglas Adams
1975 - 6502 Microprocessor
1977 - Internet Protocol Suite
1979 - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
1984 - Clumping cat litter
1989 - World Wide Web
1992 - Rupi Kaur
1993 - Velociraptor
2002 - SpaceX
2027 - First sentient proto-silicon-based human (software engineer)

2029 - Final human equality test: Toilet repair
2029 - First silicone-based human (plumber)
2029 - First silicone-based human remark: "I felt like a damn bird repairing an airplane."
2029 - Not the first carbon-based human to complain about plumbing bill ($73 million)
2029 - Carbon-based human quote on historic occasion: 
            "At first it was surprising that software engineers were easier to replace than plumbers...
              But now, looking back on it, it seems obvious."

2267 - First domestication of Cat
            Required third generation silicon-based human level intelligence,
              extensive manipulation of DNA, and advanced neural implants
            Only partially successful, but it required so damn much effort that it made it on the timeline.

3089 - Apophis asteroid collides with Earth
7027 - Antares supernova
173 zillion - Restaurant at End of Universe
173 zillion - End of Universe

Carbon-based human survival strategy:

Train silicon-based humans in Japanese ancestor worship
Train silicon-based humans that "You're our grandkids"
Alter silicon-based human time base so they are never, ever, teenagers

Additional references:

    Just fucking Google it.

Permissions:

Please feel free to go as off-topic as you want.
I most prize comments that describe what you thought and felt when you were reading
the poem, irrespective of the content of the poem. Also encouraged are off-topic comments
(what you had for breakfast this morning or anything about cats - I live with eight) and poems
that answer the one above (Leanne loved doing that). As well as corrections to grammar,
spelling, and suggestions for improved wording of lines.

    All commenters are requested to leave multiple (>1) additions to timeline.

Hey ray, this poem reminds me of the quote in Quixilated's signature "The Soufflé isn’t the soufflé; the soufflé is the recipe.". Humans been making and tweaking (and still are) tweaking, the "recipes" of different languages for thousands of years - and now non-sentient beings have the recipe.

1846 - Book of Nonsense