#language science

[dndspellgifs]

look, I know I've talked about this essay (?) before but like,

If you ever needed a good demonstration of the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", have I got an exercise for you.

Somebody made a small article explaining the basics of atomic theory but it's written in Anglish. Anglish is basically a made-up version of English where they remove any elements (words, prefixes, etc) that were originally borrowed from romance languages like french and latin, as well as greek and other foreign loanwords, keeping only those of germanic origin.

What happens is an english which is for the most part intelligible, but since a lot everyday english, and especially the scientific vocabulary, has has heavy latin and greek influence, they have to make up new words from the existing germanic-english vocabulary. For me it kind of reads super viking-ey.

Anyway when you read this article on atomic theory, in Anglish called Uncleftish Beholding, you get this text which kind of reads like a fantasy novel. Like in my mind it feels like it recontextualizes advanced scientific concepts to explain it to a viking audience from ancient times.

Even though you're familiar with the scientific ideas, because it bypasses the normal language we use for these concepts, you get a chance to examine these ideas as if you were a visitor from another civilization - and guess what, it does feel like it's about magic. It has a mythical quality to it, like it feels like a book about magic written during viking times. For me this has the same vibe as reading deep magic lore from a Robert Jordan book.

[noosphe-re]

"There was an exchange on Twitter a while back where someone said, ‘What is artificial intelligence?' And someone else said, 'A poor choice of words in 1954'," he says. "And, you know, they’re right. I think that if we had chosen a different phrase for it, back in the '50s, we might have avoided a lot of the confusion that we're having now." So if he had to invent a term, what would it be? His answer is instant: applied statistics. "It's genuinely amazing that...these sorts of things can be extracted from a statistical analysis of a large body of text," he says. But, in his view, that doesn't make the tools intelligent. Applied statistics is a far more precise descriptor, "but no one wants to use that term, because it's not as sexy".

'The machines we have now are not conscious', Lunch with the FT, Ted Chiang, by Madhumita Murgia, 3 June/4 June 2023

[totaleditorial]

Speaking is one of the actions we do the most every day and most people are very good at it: healthy fluent speakers can easily say 2–3 words per second, selected from tens of thousands of words in our mental dictionary (over 50,000 for adults!). The process of speaking, however, is not as simple in our brains as it seems when we are talking. Take, for example, naming a picture of an apple. Although the word apple comes easily to mind, several processes and brain regions are needed to allow us to fetch the word 'apple' from among all the words we have in memory. Choosing our words is just one of the steps we will describe below with the example of what our brain needs to do in order for us to name a picture of an apple.

Steps involved in choosing our words:

The first step is to think of the concepts associated with the picture of an apple. For example, a few concepts that are related to apples include sweet, crunchy, juicy, etc. These concepts help define what the object we see is; we can define an apple as a fruit that is sweet, crunchy, and juicy.

In the second step, we access all the words1 we associate with the concepts we thought of in step 1. The concepts associated with the picture of an apple can also be associated with words other than apple. Other words beside apple that might activate when we think about the concepts sweet, crunchy, juicy, etc. include pear, plum, or peach (see Figure 1).

The third step is word choice, during which the correct word needs to be selected from among all the activated words. This is what we are interested in researching. The brain needs to process very quickly to choose the right word during speech. Some researchers believe the language system needs help from other areas of the brain to process and choose words so that we can speak fast enough. These proposed areas outside of the language system that help with word choice are believed to support an “external selection mechanismAn external selection mechanism is a mechanism that is not directly a part of the language system but that can help the language system choose the right word when needed.” (in red in Figure 1).

Finally, after we pick a word, we have to say it out loud. To do that, we need the fourth step. During that step, the sounds we have stored in our brain, called phonemesA phoneme is a sound we have stored in the brain. We string each phoneme (sound) together to make a whole word—a lot like spelling using the alphabet! You can think of it like this: the alphabet is for written language and phonemes are for spoken/heard language., need to be activated. We string each phoneme together to make a whole word. It is almost like spelling using the alphabet. You can think of it like this: the alphabet is for written language and phonemes are for spoken/heard language.

apple—spelled with letters

æpәl—spelled using phonemes

And this whole process happens so fast that you never even realize you do all these steps every time you name an object!

Figure 1 - This is what happens in the brain when we name a picture.

First, we look at the picture and think about all the related concepts that help describe the picture. Second, we think about all the other words (lemmas) that can be described by those same concepts. Third, we select a word (lemma), with the help of an external selection mechanism (part of the brain outside of the language system that makes it easier to select words quickly), and use the brain’s knowledge of phonemes to say the word out loud.

Read more in link.

[the-untalented-photographer]

[lavenderhorns]

Every now and then I remember that Malbolge exists and I get to spend the better part of an hour cry-laughing at the world’s worst programming language

already starting off strong, but it gets worse

Wow! Sounds easy and intuitive to use! What’s the “crazy operation” you ask? We’ll get to that later. For now let’s see what a program in this language looks like :)

Thanks! I hate it!

it’s so difficult to work with that the first program was written by another brute force search program

mmmmm delicious base-3 arithmetic, what could go wrong? (For reference, that means this program forgoes the usual “0/1″ values of binary code in favor of a much more fun “0/1/2″ set of values)

ah.

Here’s how the language actually figures out what to do. It’s got 8 “simple” commands that can be executed easily by *checks notes* running the code itself through the modulo operation and taking the result.

As a bonus, on top of all that every single character in your code will now alter what every single other character does. So I hope you’re alright with cracking a cipher every time you add a new letter to your program!

oh god oh fuck.

behold, Malbolge’s primary arithmetic operation and what you’ll be using for most of your math while programming with it :)

This looks specifically designed to be the least logical math operation you could make, and knowing what the rest of Malbolge is I’d wager that’s precisely what happened. I never want to ever use this and it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbolge

Anyways here’s the wiki page if you wanna read through it more deeply, I’m gonna sit here holding in my laughter staring at the hello world program again.

[mindblowingscience]

Cats have lived alongside humans for around 12,000 years, and during that time, it seems they've been paying close attention to how we communicate. A new study suggests that our feline companions can even learn to associate the words we use for particular objects or images, and they pick this up faster than our own babies do.

Continue Reading.

[dreamdolldeveloper]

back to basics

mostly free resources to help you learn the basics that i've gathered for myself so far that i think are cool

everyday

gcfglobal - about the internet, online safety and for kids, life skills like applying for jobs, career planning, resume writing, online learning, today's skills like 3d printing, photoshop, smartphone basics, microsoft office apps, and mac friendly. they have core skills like reading, math, science, language learning - some topics are sparse so hopefully they keep adding things on. great site to start off on learning.

handsonbanking - learn about finances. after highschool, credit, banking, investing, money management, debt, goal setting, loans, cars, small businesses, military, insurance, retirement, etc.

bbc - learning for all ages. primary to adult. arts, history, science, math, reading, english, french, all the way to functional and vocational skills for adults as well, great site!

education.ket - workplace essential skills

general education

mathsgenie - GCSE revision, grade 1-9, math stages 1-14, provides more resources! completely free.

khan academy - pre-k to college, life skills, test prep (sats, mcat, etc), get ready courses, AP, partner courses like NASA, etc. so much more!

aleks - k-12 + higher ed learning program. adapts to each student.

biology4kids - learn biology

cosmos4kids - learn astronomy basics

chem4kids - learn chemistry

physics4kids - learn physics

numbernut - math basics (arithmetic, fractions and decimals, roots and exponents, prealgebra)

education.ket - primary to adult. includes highschool equivalent test prep, the core skills. they have a free resource library and they sell workbooks. they have one on work-life essentials (high demand career sectors + soft skills)

youtube channels

the organic chemistry tutor

khanacademy

crashcourse

tabletclassmath

2minmaths

kevinmathscience

professor leonard

greenemath

mathantics

3blue1brown

literacy

readworks - reading comprehension, build background knowledge, grow your vocabulary, strengthen strategic reading

chompchomp - grammar knowledge

tutors

not the "free resource" part of this post but sometimes we forget we can be tutored especially as an adult. just because we don't have formal education does not mean we can't get 1:1 teaching! please do you research and don't be afraid to try out different tutors. and remember you're not dumb just because someone's teaching style doesn't match up with your learning style.

cambridge coaching - medical school, mba and business, law school, graduate, college academics, high school and college process, middle school and high school admissions

preply - language tutoring. affordable!

revolutionprep - math, science, english, history, computer science (ap, html/css, java, python c++), foreign languages (german, korean, french, italian, spanish, japanese, chinese, esl)

varsity tutors - k-5 subjects, ap, test prep, languages, math, science & engineering, coding, homeschool, college essays, essay editing, etc

chegg - biology, business, engineering/computer science, math, homework help, textbook support, rent and buying books

learn to be - k-12 subjects

for languages

lingq - app. created by steve kaufmann, a polygot (fluent in 20+ languages) an amazing language learning platform that compiles content in 20+ languages like podcasts, graded readers, story times, vlogs, radio, books, the feature to put in your own books! immersion, comprehensible input.

flexiclasses - option to study abroad, resources to learn, mandarin, cantonese, japanese, vietnamese, korean, italian, russian, taiwanese hokkien, shanghainese.

fluentin3months - bootcamp, consultation available, languages: spanish, french, korean, german, chinese, japanese, russian, italian.

fluenz - spanish immersion both online and in person - intensive.

pimsleur - not tutoring** online learning using apps and their method. up to 50 languages, free trial available.

incase time has passed since i last posted this, check on the original post (not the reblogs) to see if i updated link or added new resources. i think i want to add laguage resources at some point too but until then, happy learning!!

[nando161mando]

[aeolian-alien]

"bug" is one of my favorite words because it not only has zero scientific basis, but even its colloquial meaning is poorly defined. Are bugs insects? No because spiders are bugs. Do bugs crawl? No because worms are bugs. Is a crayfish a bug? who tf knows

It's clear that the only consistent trait of a bug is that it is smol

[frogposting]

Panamanian Golden Frog

Atelopus zeteki

These guys are tiny. So small, in fact, that they’re born without eardrums. They use a form of sign language called semaphore to communicate with other frogs. This sign language involves waving hands and raising feet to greet each other, defend territory, or attract a mate. For example, male frogs will wave their arms to attract females, and females will wave back if they are interested.

Unfortunately, they’ve been extinct in the wild since 2007 due to the amphibian chytrid fungus but they’re being bred successfully in captivity.

[official-linguistics-post]

New open-access article from Georgia Zellou and Nicole Holliday: "Linguistic analysis of human-computer interaction" in Frontiers in Computer Science (Human-Media Interaction).

This article reviews recent literature investigating speech variation in production and comprehension during spoken language communication between humans and devices. Human speech patterns toward voice-AI presents a test to our scientific understanding about speech communication and language use. First, work exploring how human-AI interactions are similar to, or different from, human-human interactions in the realm of speech variation is reviewed. In particular, we focus on studies examining how users adapt their speech when resolving linguistic misunderstandings by computers and when accommodating their speech toward devices. Next, we consider work that investigates how top-down factors in the interaction can influence users’ linguistic interpretations of speech produced by technological agents and how the ways in which speech is generated (via text-to-speech synthesis, TTS) and recognized (using automatic speech recognition technology, ASR) has an effect on communication. Throughout this review, we aim to bridge both HCI frameworks and theoretical linguistic models accounting for variation in human speech. We also highlight findings in this growing area that can provide insight to the cognitive and social representations underlying linguistic communication more broadly. Additionally, we touch on the implications of this line of work for addressing major societal issues in speech technology.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

The Language of Science: Nomenclature

The dates below are those of the first recorded usage, as given in the Oxford English Dictionary.

SCIENCE NAMES

biology (1802) ⚜ petrology (1807) ⚜ taxonomy (1828)

morphology (1830) ⚜ palaeontology (1838)

ethnology (1842) ⚜ gynaecology; histology (1847)

carcinology (1852) ⚜ embryology (1859)

CHEMISTRY

tellurium (1800) ⚜ sodium (1807) ⚜ strontium (1808)

platinum (1812) ⚜ silicon (1817) ⚜ caffeine (1830) ⚜ chloroform (1848)

sucrose (1862) ⚜ cocaine (1874) ⚜ argon (1895)

PHYSICS

centigrade (1799) ⚜ sonometer (1802)

colorimeter (1844) ⚜ ohm (1861) ⚜ ampère (1863)

joule; voltmeter; watt (1882) ⚜ electron (1891)

BIOLOGY

flagellum (1807) ⚜ chlorophyll (1819) ⚜ spermatozoon (1836)

diatom (1845) ⚜ bacterium (1847) ⚜ leucocyte (1870)

symbiosis (1882) ⚜ mitosis (1887)

chromosome (1889) ⚜ photosynthesis (1893)

GEOLOGY

apatite (1803) ⚜ cretaceous; Jurassic; pliocene (1831)

mesozoic (1840) ⚜ triassic (1841) ⚜ Cambrian (1842)

oligocene (1856) ⚜ bauxite (1861) ⚜ Ordovician (1879)

MEDICINE

gastritis (1806) ⚜ laryngitis (1822) ⚜ kleptomania (1830)

cirrhosis; neuritis (1840) ⚜ diphtheria (1842)

haemophilia (1854) ⚜ aphasia (1867) ⚜ claustrophobia (1879)

Any examination of the growth of scientific vocabulary in the 19th century would find that some sciences are conspicuously underrepresented, for the simple reason that their foundations had been laid much earlier. Example: Most of the basic terms of anatomy had been introduced by the end of the 17th century, as had a great deal of mathematical terminology. On the other hand, from the end of the 18th century rapid progress in chemistry, physics, and biology led to such major lexical developments as the nomenclature of chemical elements and compounds, and the Linnaean system of classification in natural history.

Source: T. H. Savory, 1967; incorporating 2017 OED revisions More: Word Lists ⚜ Historical Thesaurus

[the-untalented-photographer]

[mindblowingscience]

Only in recent years have scientists found that not everyone has the sense of an inner voice – and a new study sheds some light on how living without an internal monologue affects how language is processed in the brain. This latest study, from researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, also proposes a new name for the condition of not having any inner speech: anendophasia. This is similar to (if not the same as) anauralia, a term researchers coined in 2021 for people who don't have an inner voice, nor can they imagine sounds, like a musical tune or siren.

Continue Reading.

[xysidhequeen]

It’s getting late (for me that is) but what about Jason first meeting with the rest of the council (Frostbite, Clockwork, Pandora and etc)?

You mean: Abominable Snowman, Benjamin Button and Mommy-sorry Step On Me? (Jason's crush on Wonder Woman did in fact transfer to Pandora)

Jason generally likes all of the council, and all of the council likes him in turn because he makes Danny happy.

He met Frostbite first. Danny took him to the Far Frozen to get checked out and to be sure the Baby Ghost was healthy and stuff. Jason had been forewarned and honestly, by that point, yetis were just one of those 'yeah that tracks' moments for Jason. Jason asked Frostbite, as a joke, if he could give him a piggyback ride. Frostbite picked him up, plunked him on his shoulder and booked it. 10/10 Jason had the BEST time. Definitely his favorite doctor.

Clockwork he met next, and it basically went:

Clockwork: I see you found your knight young king.

Danny: Yeah, thanks for WARNING ME

Jason: Who the is this fucker?

Danny: imagine a grandpa given unlimited power over time but retaining the 'stay off my lawn' energy but towards the time stream.

Jason: Ah

Clockwork: Wonderful. Off you two go

He then yeeted (yote?) Them through a portal because a member of the Flash Fam had severely fucked the timestream doing speedster shit. Luckily CW had smashed a hat on Jason's head first and he was in human form so the Flash fam member didn't recognize him. They were a bit too occupied with Danny yelling at them for fucking up and ripping them out of the speed force. The Flash fam member bought them lunch. (This was not the first or last time CW sent Danny to deal with the Flashes. They knew of him, and were all more than a little frightened of Danny. They think he's like. A speedforce demon or something. Theyre glad he eats burgers and not their souls) it was fun, even if they were stuck in the 40s for a bit until they cleaned everything up and got the Flash fam member back in the proper timeline. (You can imagine this as any of the Flash fam)

Jason met Pandora when she came to spar with Danny. And he just. Instant puppy crush. He watched this Amazonian woman beat the snot out of Danny and it was the best day of his life. If Fright Knight hadn't already claimed him as a protégé he would've been begging Pandora to train him. She thinks Jason is cute and is always happy to spar with him when she's around.

[ciceroprofacto]

we need to collectively start shaming people for talking about anything related to economics a LOT more. if someone starts talking about inflation, ask them to explain what that is. interest rates- who controls that- more importantly, how? to what end? what are tariffs supposed to do? how do labor and wages effect supply and demand? what is a market? a job market??

literally no one actually knows anything they’re talking about AT ALL, and if someone’s telling you they can accurately predict what’s going to happen they’re plain lying. real experts will admit there are major flaws in the data feeding several key models and indicators. even with perfect data collection methods (impossible to achieve), we still wouldn’t be sure of anything. that’s not how economic controls work.

the average person has less than zero economic literacy and I mean less than zero because they’ll insist on talking about it anyway and that shit has a negative impact. when they do it, make them look stupid- ask them to break it down like you’re a child, keep asking for more clarity, go deeper. ask for their sources, ask for their sources sources, ask if they were educated in economics and where and in what focus. Fucking grill them. and when they can’t demonstrate real comprehension, ask them why they’d vote based on something they don’t actually understand.