Learn a Foreign Language Before It's Too Late (By Douglas Hofstadter)

Re:Learn a Foreign Language Before It's Too Late (By Douglas... by cameldrv on Friday October 27, 2023 @03:56PM (#38043156)

I liked the article. Part of what he's touching on is actually far more general. Language translation/speaking is just one skill a human can acquire though. For him, part of what gives his life meaning is being able to write a letter or have a conversation in another language, and the fact that this is hard is part of the meaningfulness of it.

When everything we do becomes easy and we can just ask an AI/robot to do it for us, how will humans replace the meaning that comes from skill acquisition/performance?

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Re:Learn a Foreign Language Before It's Too Late (By Douglas... by jamager on Friday October 27, 2023 @04:04PM (#38043244)

Exactly, agreed.

Antoine de Saint-exupéry had a similar way to put it: "It's the time you wasted on your rose that makes your rose so important"

I don't know why he chose that word, but I love that choice "waste" (perdre in original French). So telling.

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Re:Learn a Foreign Language Before It's Too Late (By Douglas... by Lukas_Skywalker on Friday October 27, 2023 @04:42PM (#38043655)

The above translation is common, but I always thought it was not ideal. The much more common use in french for "perdre" is not "to waste", but "to lose", as in "The time you lost ...".

I think this captures the spirit even better, since the time sure is lost, but not wasted.

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Re:Learn a Foreign Language Before It's Too Late (By Douglas... by markk on Friday October 27, 2023 @04:51PM (#38043761)

Does knowing an AI can do something reduce our enjoyment of doing that thing ourself? I don't know if we have enough data/experience to say.

An example in my own life: an AI I'm sure can perform a piano piece (via MIDI) better than I can, but I've literally never considered this has any bearing on how much I like paying piano.

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Re:Learn a Foreign Language Before It's Too Late (By Douglas... by theragra on Friday October 27, 2023 @05:06PM (#38043931)

Chess show it is not so important.

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