Ben Waber
@bwaber@hci.social  ·  activity timestamp yesterday

Next was a fantastic talk by David Chiang on what transformers can and can't do at the USC Information Sciences Institute. I admit I'm a sucker for talks like this, which relate neural networks to well understood formal models to probe their theoretical limits. Here Chiang convincingly demonstrates how a formal logic model is equivalent to some transformers, then showing how they will literally never be able to do certain essential tasks reliably. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVdLh-6wEJo (5/6)
Ben Waber
@bwaber@hci.social  ·  activity timestamp yesterday

Last was "A Myriad of Tongues" by Caleb Everett. This book provides an expansive tour of the breadth of humanity's linguistic repertoire, how linguistic differences relate to culture, and even how speech production biology likely influences language. This is both fascinating and gives deep insight into subtle and not so subtle differences in how different people and cultures interact and perceive the world. Highly recommend

Full review: https://bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/review/8055557/s/this-is-the-linguistics-anthropology-biology-book-youve-been-looking-for#anchor-8055557 (6/6) #linguistics