The human mind is a sufficiently general simulator of the world, and fidelitous representations of the world “naturally” decompose into few enough basic types of data structures, that human minds operate all of the data structure types which naturally (efficiently, sufficiently accurately, …) are “found” in the world. When we use language to talk about the world, we are pointing words at these (convergent!) internal data structures. Maybe we don’t have words for certain instances of these data structures, but in principle we can make new words whenever this comes up; we don’t need whole new types of structures.
Seems interesting, and plausible.
Makes me wonder where we’d go looking to try to disprove the hypothesis. My first thought is quantum mechanics. I’m no quantum physicist, so I don’t think I know enough to say, but I certainly get the feeling when trying to read pop sci descriptions of quantum phenomena that I somehow lack the right kind of concepts to really get what’s happening on a quantum scale. Particle? Wave? Wrong intuitions entirely!?
Which makes sense from the point of view that details of quantum level particle interactions are well outside anything that a human experienced in our evolutionary history. Similarly, extreme astrological phenomena like black holes and dark energy. Scientists have coined terms for the things their math and observations seem to be pointing to, but I suspect these terms don’t ‘fit’ (point at?) nearly as well as the term dog ‘fits’ (points at) the true universe-pattern of dogs as experienced by humans.
Not sure how to quantify this ‘fitness’ of word to concept, and of concept to actual manifestation.
Seems interesting, and plausible.
Makes me wonder where we’d go looking to try to disprove the hypothesis. My first thought is quantum mechanics. I’m no quantum physicist, so I don’t think I know enough to say, but I certainly get the feeling when trying to read pop sci descriptions of quantum phenomena that I somehow lack the right kind of concepts to really get what’s happening on a quantum scale. Particle? Wave? Wrong intuitions entirely!?
Which makes sense from the point of view that details of quantum level particle interactions are well outside anything that a human experienced in our evolutionary history. Similarly, extreme astrological phenomena like black holes and dark energy. Scientists have coined terms for the things their math and observations seem to be pointing to, but I suspect these terms don’t ‘fit’ (point at?) nearly as well as the term dog ‘fits’ (points at) the true universe-pattern of dogs as experienced by humans.
Not sure how to quantify this ‘fitness’ of word to concept, and of concept to actual manifestation.