Last time we talked about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the difficulty it has with recognizing the significance and meaning of symbols. We provided a rough outline of some of those difficulties AI has in this area and how it is the chief obstacle to making truly intelligent machines, as opposed to making machines that are good at the one or two things they are designed for. In this the next few pieces we’ll be going deeper, exploring the many kinds of symbols and how people take their recognition and use for granted, rarely fully appreciating all the complex processes involved in doing so.
Let’s begin with language. Any language is a series of sounds and/or written words, each of which is a symbol that stands for a thing, action or concept. Even just that first fact, that languages are usually both spoken and written hints at the great deal of complexity involved. If we are fluent in a given language, we easily can hear a series of sounds and understand the written words that would correspond to them. We further understand the thing, action, or concept that they represent. However, someone who is just learning a new language will appreciate just how difficult it is to wrap his head around all of these relationships. This is especially true in regards to trying to match the written language with the proper pronunciations. Just try to be an English speaker learning French. Another place where difficulty arises even with people is the fact that different cultures and their languages have different concepts that don’t translate perfectly into other languages. All of these are reasons why Google Translate often has such entertaining results.
Yet, all of that is in some ways the easy part. When we are trying to interpret the audible and written symbols of a language, it is relatively straightforward compared to trying to interpret other kinds of symbols. With a language, there are still meanings that can be checked using tools like dictionaries. What about paintings? On one level, a still life seems very simple. A bowl of fruit symbolizes a bowl of fruit. Yet, art is rarely so superficial. Very often, arguably always, the artist imbues his work with additional meaning. That meaning can be intended or not, something that makes the interpretation of art such a contentious and interesting subject. Many times, someone will look at a painting and see things in it that the artist could never have anticipated, yet are there nonetheless.
Let’s not forget that the meaning of symbols can change over time as well. Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon is the swastika. Once, it was a fairly obscure symbol of divinity used in a variety of eastern religions. However, virtually no one can see it now and not think of the worst kinds of violence and bigotry in human history. The swastika has become the flag for fascism in the western mind since WWII, quite the change from its original use.
Another example from WWII shows how a single image can symbolize a great many things. The iconic picture of the raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima symbolizes victory, liberation, camaraderie and many other things besides. While an AI might pick up on some of that, a full appreciation of everything symbolized in that one image is impossible without some historical knowledge of the actual context behind it.
While it might seem from this that the interpretation of symbols is a hopelessly subjective enterprise, the truth is that symbols still have a genuinely objective meaning, though it is largely dependent on context. The swastika does have an objective meaning but one must be aware of it. A painting of an apple can symbolize many things. But it definitely symbolizes an apple and definitely does not symbolize an orange. The difficulty in determining the meaning of many different symbols lies precisely in trying to sift through the many subjective meanings of things in order to get to the objective. A task that AI has thus far not been up to. We’ll see later in this series whether there is any hope of overcoming this hurdle or not.
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