Universal Language Games with David Krakauer

In this presentation David Krakauer explores the rules of language and what that understanding entails -- either tacitly or explicitly. Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations asks how we might learn a new language’s rules without fully understanding the different “Form of Life” in which it exists and that it supports. The problem consists in knowing how to map an objective signal onto a subjective concept, and what function this paired signal-concept enables or encodes. John Nash invented non-cooperative game theory to explore how coordination in communication might come about, and how this coordination seems to depend on shared strategic categories and imperatives. I consider the possibility of a Universal Language Game (ULG), that combines the Wittgenstein and Nash frameworks with an evolutionary logic to explore how meaning between divergent agents might come to be shared. The objective of inter-specific mutual comprehension is a search for rules of translation that transcend the umwelt of distinct species.

This video is part of the “2024 Workshop: Animals in Translation - Imagining Criteria and Frameworks for Decoding Communication in Other Species” co-hosted by Interspecies Internet, the Santa Fe Institute, and XPRIZE Foundation. These presentations sparked engaging conversations among participants, leading to collaborative discussions aimed at developing preliminary criteria for decoding animal communication.

The 2024 Workshop: Animals in Translation playlist includes:
➡️ Nine expert presentations sharing the latest research findings.
➡️ 15-minute presentations followed by a 5-minute Q&A session.
➡️ Focus areas include intraspecies communication among apes, wolves, bats, humans (whistle languages), prairie dogs, and whales.

We are excited to share these presentations with our wider community, inviting anyone interested to explore these insights and more:

🔗 The Animals in Translation Publication: https://www.interspecies.io/publication
📺 More on the lecture series: https://www.interspecies.io/lectures
✍️ More on Interspecies Internet: https://www.interspecies.io
💡 The TED Talk that created a buzz:    • The interspecies Internet? An idea in prog...  
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