this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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Sorry, but you oversimplify a lot here, it hurts. Language can express and communicate human thought, sure, but human thought is more than language. Human thought includes emotions, experiences, abstract concepts, etc. that go beyond what can be expressed through language alone. LLMs are excellent at generating text, often more skilled than the average person, but training data and algorithms limit LLMs. They can lack nuances of context, tone, or intent. TL;DR.: Understanding language doesn't imply understanding human thought.
I'd love to know how you even came to your conclusion.
Many languages lack words for certain concepts. For example, english lacks a word for the joy you feel at another's pain. You have to go to Germany in order to name Schadenfreude. However, English is perfectly capable of describing what schadenfreude is. I sometimes become nonverbal due to my autism. In the moment, there is no way I could possibly describe what I am feeling. But that is a limitation of my temporarily panicked mind, not a limitation of language itself. Sufficiently gifted writers and poets have described things once thought indescribable. I believe language can describe anything with a book long enough and a writer skilled enough.
I'm not a native English speaker so I might be wrong, but isn't "sadism" also covers "schadenfreude"?