The Importance of Symbolic Representation in Natural Language

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Wolfram: We're trying to find a way to represent precisely so you can compute things. See, see one thing, we say, you give a piece of natural language. The question is, could it be turned into this symbolic computational thing from which you can compute all kinds of consequences? And that's kind of our goal is to have as much as possible about the world that can be computed in a reasonable way. So then we can sort of speak, be able to be captured by this kind of computational language. That's, that'skind of the goal.

Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, theoretical physicist, and the founder of Wolfram Research, a company behind Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the Wolfram Physics and Metamathematics projects. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lex to get 15% off
– BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off
– InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off

EPISODE LINKS:
Stephen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram
Stephen’s Blog: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com
Wolfram|Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com
A New Kind of Science (book): https://amzn.to/30XoEun
Fundamental Theory of Physics (book): https://amzn.to/30XbAoT
Blog posts:
A 50-Year Quest: https://bit.ly/3NQbZ2P
What Is ChatGPT doing: https://bit.ly/3VOwtuz

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:45) – WolframAlpha and ChatGPT
(26:26) – Computation and nature of reality
(53:18) – How ChatGPT works
(1:53:01) – Human and animal cognition
(2:06:20) – Dangers of AI
(2:14:39) – Nature of truth
(2:36:01) – Future of education
(3:12:03) – Consciousness
(3:21:02) – Second Law of Thermodynamics
(3:44:36) – Entropy
(3:57:36) – Observers in physics
(4:14:27) – Mortality