Humboldt viewed learning as some notion of reminiscence. Leibniz pointed out that Plato's theory was basically correct but it had to be purged, he says. Humboldt said language enables what he called infinite use of finite means. Those conceptions weren't very well understood until the mid-20th century - now everyone has them in their laptop by now.
Noam Chomsky joins Tyler to discuss why Noam and Wilhelm von Humboldt have similar views on language and liberty, good and bad evolutionary approaches to language, what he thinks Stephen Wolfram gets wrong about LLMs, whether he’s optimistic about the future, what he thinks of Thomas Schelling, the legacy of the 1960s-era left libertarians, the development trajectories of Nicaragua and Cuba, why he still answers every email, what he’s been most wrong about, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded February 27th, 2023
Other ways to connect
Photo credit: Duncan Rawlinson - Duncan.co