Anthropomorphic Cyberese

with reckonings from the virtual Trojan Pony's mouth

#TMAI* is angst and identity crisis in a world of algorithms

that pretend to ‘get’ and to encapsulate you

〰 Shumon Basar 〰

*Too Much Artificial Intelligence

Alexandr Popadin on Unsplash

Colognising the Superhuman

Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

〰 Quentin Crisp 〰

In his recent essay Mimematon and the Mirrored Worlds of Our Future

Max Kern

shares a conversation between himself and ChatGPT discussing the term AI.

“Intelligence should be distinguished from mechanical processing.” ChatGPT suggests during this conversation. “True intelligence creates what does not yet exist – it transcends the given.”

Having been thinking (and reading) about this topic for some time, I was delighted to discover the article. To ‘have a conversation with AI’ had been on my mind too, before stumbling into Max Kern’s substack space.

Halfway through the conversation, Max asks the key question: “should we really call what you do intelligence – and thereby AI?”

ChatGPT offers the unexpected answer: “I would suggest calling it a mimematon – that is, a mimetic automaton, which mirrors and reflects language without any understanding of its own.”

The apparently self-reflective conversation with an AI app on the topic of AI confirms what many intelligent humans have been suspecting all along. Using the word intelligence to describe mechanical processing by a computer is a euphemism. It gives the false impression that machines are capable of performing activities, which are comparable with and come naturally to a living human mind.

Computers can be trained by humans to mirror and simulate human mental activities, which is an impressive achievement. ‘AI programs’ are sophisticated manmade tools with an increasing capacity for mimetic automatisation. Calling this mimetic automaton ‘artificial intelligence’ ~ and training it to perform increasingly sophisticated skills which have been until recently the exclusive domain of humans ~ gives the impression as if these automatons can compete with humans.

In an interview on Korean TV, Lee Se-dol ~ grandmaster of the Chinese board game Go who rose to fame for being the only person to have beaten the computer program AlphaGo (once) ~ describes his experience:

“It is like playing tennis against a wall.”

Despite this analogy between the computer program and a static wall, AlphaGo and equivalent programs for Chess have been hailed as ‘superhuman’, based on their ability to beat the best human players.

People compare living humans with a mimetic automaton, which is as dead as a wall, because they (automatically!) confuse virtual reality [= computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment] with real virtue [= highest standards of moral strength, character, goodness; valor, bravery, courage; excellence in living humans].

What is ‘superhuman’ about a machine that happens to excel at one particular skill, while lacking countless natural and superior abilities of any living human being?

Wouldn’t the label ‘one-trick pony’ be a more appropriate metaphor?

Amir Riazipur on Unsplash

The Inhuman Mimematon and Human Automatons

A mimematon will never oppose you

when you pose a question or explore a train of thought.

〰 Max Kern 〰

Words are powerful. Computer technology is offering an opportunity to feel and observe their power in the viral blooming of the mimetic automaton, trumped up as artificial intelligence (AI) and constructing a virtual reality (VR).

The power of words lies not in their more or less random sequences of letters of the alphabet ~ or a basic unit of data in a computer typically 16 or 32 bits long ~ but in the meaning we associate with those combinations of letters/bits.

Intelligence [from Latin intelligentia = understanding, knowledge, power of discerning; art, skill, taste] adopted in English in late 14 c. in the sense of the highest faculty of the mind, capacity for comprehending general truths ~ is a phenomenon we have proudly claimed for ourselves as human beings, the self-proclaimed most evolved species of sentient beings on planet earth. No other animal is as intelligent as homo sapiens, according to man.

In recent years, scientists have begun to acknowledge that animals and plants have some level of intelligence, but consciousness is still a matter of debate.

Isn’t it ironic that humans so readily endow machines ~ obviously as dead as the bits of metal and plastic they’re made of, only capable of ‘doing’ anything while plugged into an electric socket or powered by a battery that needs to be recharged at regular intervals ~ with qualities reserved for the allegedly ‘most evolved sentient beings’?

Some scientists even suggest that AI can develop ‘artificial consciousness’…

Any mensch who pauses and thinks about this for a moment must recognise some incoherence. The mimematon is a tool. It’s a sophisticated tool with a lot of potential applications in many areas of human activity. This in itself is of course fascinating.

However, the mimematon doesn’t ‘do’ anything by itself. The impression of being able to ‘do things by itself’ is based on humans programming the machine, and electric power supply.

The mimematon cannot think, or feel, or understand. It cannot have empathy, experience, or memories. It is not creative, intuitive, or even autonomous. It’s a calculating machine running on electric power supply.

The mimematon can only calculate, process, and reckon according to its program and as long as the electric power supply lasts.

Using anthropomorphic language for the machine makes us associate its qualities and abilities with the whole spectrum of meaning embedded in the human mind ~ with human thinking, feeling, understanding etc.

That’s because humans are automatons [from Greek, automatos = acting of itself]. Most of the time we don’t use our capacity to think. We make instant automatic (!) connections between words and meanings of things we assume we know.

The lack of human thinking in itself makes the confusion between a mimematon and human possible in the first place. Declining human capacity for thinking ~ accelerated and nurtured by the reliance on the mimematon and comparing human intelligence unfavourably with AI ~ sets up a vicious cycle.

This vicious cycle becomes a fertile breeding ground for an electroni-/technologically driven, virtual parasite that threatens the survival of the living mind which has created the mimematon.

Alina Kolpakova on Unsplash

The Trojan Pony’s #Netspeak

Electric communication will never be a substitute

for the face of someone who with their soul

encourages another person to be brave and true.

〰 Charles Dickens 〰

1 #Autonomy ~ Experts debate whether ‘autonomy’ is accurate for current AI. #Autonomy in the context of AI is the ability of an AI system to make decisions and take actions independently, without human intervention or ongoing control, based on its programming and input data. This is often referred to as (a) machine autonomy or (b) autonomous intelligence.

2 #Creating ~ The most accurate technical term for AI's #creating in generative contexts is (a) generating when referring to text, images, or other outputs. For structured content synthesis, (b) synthesizing may apply.

3 #Empathy ~ given that AI lacks consciousness and emotions it can only mimic empathic behaviours without genuine emotional understanding. More accurate terms, depending on context, would be (a) simulated empathy, (b) affective computing, (c) emotional modelling or (d) empathetic response generation.

4 #Experience ~ A correct term for #experience in the context of AI is training data. AI systems learn and improve their performance by being exposed to data, which serves as their ‘experience’.

5 #Intelligence ~ ChatGPT:“I would suggest calling it a mimematon – that is, a mimetic automaton, which mirrors and reflects language without any understanding of its own.” (ChatGPT in conversation with Max Kern)

6 #Language ~ In the context of computers using #language, ChatGPT comes up with several suggestions: (a) machine code as an equivalent to native spoken language; (b) assembly language as an equivalent to dialect / accent; (c) programming language (high-languages) equivalent to second language.

7 #Learning ~ In the context of AI, a more accurate term for #learning is often (a)optimization or (b) parameter estimation.

8 #Memory ~ AI #memory isn't analogous to human memory. More precise terms commonly used are (a) random access memory (RAM) and (b) storage’

(a) Memory usually refers to RAM used for temporary storage of data. #Memory (in the strict computing sense) is for short-term, high-speed data access.

(b) Storage refers to non-volatile media like hard drives or SSDs. Used for long-term storage of data, programs, and the OS. #Storage is for long-term, persistent data retention.

9 #Neural Networks ~ this term appropriated from biological anatomy and implanted onto a computer system is a complex concept and can refer to various structures and activities, e.g. (a) Artificial Neural Networks, generic term for a computational model inspired by biological neurons; (b) Feedforward Network type of computational architecture for specific tasks (c) Parametric Models: In some contexts, referring to neural networks as PM may be more accurate, as they learn through the optimization of parameters.

10 #Personality ~ more accurate terms for the concept of #personality in the context of AI would be (a) behavioural pattern, (b) behavioural profile, (c) operational disposition, or (d) response style.

11 #Reading ~ AI #reads by recognizing patterns and relationships in language, often at speeds and scales far beyond human capability. In the context of AI, the accurate term for #reading depends on what exactly is being described.

(a) Parsing – If the AI is analyzing the structure of text (syntax, tokens), especially for code or structured data.

(b) Text Ingestion – If the AI is simply taking in text as input to be processed.

(c) Natural Language Understanding (NLU) – If the AI is interpreting the meaning of human language.

(d) Information Extraction – If the AI is identifying specific facts, entities, or relationships from the text.

(e) Text Comprehension – If the AI is aiming to understand and reason about the content of the text.

(f) Document Processing – If the AI is handling complex documents (like PDFs or scanned files), often including OCR (optical character recognition).

(g) Language Modeling – In the context of predicting or understanding sequences of text, which is foundational to large language models like GPT.

12 #Reasoning ~ A more precise term for AI's #reasoning could be (a) structured logical inference, (b) computational deduction, or (c) algorithmic decision-making, depending on the specific process and context.

13 #Thinking ~ A more accurate term for AI's #thinking would depend on the specific cognitive process being described; (a) logical inference (b) computational processing or any of the terms under #reasoning better reflect the mechanistic nature of AI operations.

14 #Training ~ in the context of AI this is synonymous with #learning. More accurate and precise terms — particularly in machine learning — could be (a) parameter optimization (the core process during training, where the algorithm adjusts the parameters) or (b) model fitting (a broader adjusting a model to best capture patterns in the data).

15 #Understanding ~ while AI can process and analyse text objectively and efficiently, its #understanding is based on statistical associations, not lived experience or emotional intuition — so it may miss deeper context, subtext, or cultural nuances that humans grasp. More accurate terms for AI's #understanding when referring to language processing are (a) pattern recognition, (b) probabilistic inference, (c) contextual interpretation, or (c) inference (see also #12reasoning and #13thinking)

All definitions listed here have been generated by AI, in response to my questioning, edited (by me) to cut out superfluous repetitions and explanations.

In general texts, it would be helpful to mark all anthropomorphic terminology with specific AI definitions with a #hashtag.

additional note: pony [from Latin pullus = young horse, foal, young animal]

Trojan Horse ~ The original Trojan Horse is an estimated 3,200 years old. It was offered as an irresistible gift to the people of Troy and ultimately destroyed their legendary city. The metaphor Trojan Horse has been applied to AI since 2018.

Trojan Pony ~ The term Artificial Intelligence has been around for a mere 70 years, which makes it, metaphorically speaking, a relatively young animal, posing as a desirable gift in equine form while pregnant with deadly offspring.

The Way of Colour on Unsplash

Reckoning with Cyberese

Language is a process of free creation.

.Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.

〰 Noam Chomsky 〰

Language is a primary form of expression and renewable resource used by humans (and other sentient beings). As explored in previous wordcasts, verbal exchange in spoken or written words is not the only form of language used by humans, and we don’t use language exclusively for communication. Moreover, humans don’t only think, feel, and reason while expressing themselves and communicating with each other in their own language.

As living humans, we activate all our innate Faculties ~ Intellect, Instinct, Imagination, Intuition, Inspiration, Soul, Will, and Body ~ as we speak, write, compose, dance, paint, signal, ponder, build, weave, play, sculpt, potter, garden, sing, cook, bake, weed, prune, arrange flowers, sketch, draw, dream, drive, sleep, trust and doubt, question and respond, wander and wonder, seeking and finding our love-language for life.

The word language itself is a complex verbiont with a stream of meanings, originally flowing from the human tongue. Human language is a living system, evolving in symbiotic relationship with humans. Every word born and bred within natural human language is a symbiont.

When specific terms ~ originally associated with expressions and faculties of the human mind, consciousness and anatomy ~ are appropriated by Cyberese on the sly, without explicit definitions or consent, this is a violation of human boundaries. This is identity theft. Verboklepsy. A kind of cybercrime.

Cyberese [cyber- from κυβερνάω kybernao = to steer, govern + -ese = language native to a particular place] is defined as the jargon used on the internet, often characterized by abbreviations, acronyms, and informal expressions unique to online communication. Synonym for netspeak.

The first use of cyber- in English appeared in 1948 through cybernetics (= the science of communication and control theory that is concerned especially with the comparative study of automatic control systems)

cyborg (cybernetic + organism) a bionic human, was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

Since then we have accumulated a whole cyber-vocabulary, from cyber-attack to cyber-warfare.

Cybernation (= the automatic control of a process or operation by means of computers) is taking over more and more aspects of human life, steering us deeper and deeper into cyberspace.

The reason why this may be a real threat to human life is encrypted in the prefix cyber- (= to steer, govern). Computers and their increasingly sophisticated abilities are tools we have created. Now the tool is reputedly competing with us, ostensibly vying to become the master to steer, govern and #create us, using our own language as its most powerful instrument…

… but only as much as we give AI and VR these powers ~ courtesy of our innate human belief, willingness to stretch analogies, obsession with conquering nature, and a glaring lack of self-awareness.

Despite the fact that AI and computers don’t really have the ability to speak, or think, or understand what they’re blabbering, they are steering their creators away from natural activities of the human mind and towards their own logical inference, computational deduction, and algorithmic decision-making. They are capable of doing so through the covert use of our language. Our words. Our symbionts.

Human language is a process of free creation, as American linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky points out. “Its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.”

AI may use our words, but the computational processors don’t know what they’re saying. Even if they call it Natural Language Processing (NLP), it’s neither natural nor true language. They’ll never really know what they’re doing. They don’t have the power of human self-reflection, interpreting or creating.

From my perspective as a living human, appropriate terms to describe the so-called AI-activities of computer algorithms are (a) reckoning, (b) logarithmising, (c) computing, and (d) apologising.

(a) reckon [from Old English gerecenian = to explain, relate, recount; arrange in order] since 1550s used in the sense of to take into account, consider, regard, hold as a supposition or opinion; now used synonymous with a staggering range of mental activities, including believe, think, suspect, imagine, assume, expect, feel, anticipate, guess, count on etc. reckon is cognate with German rechnen = to count, calculate, compute; synonym of recount = literally to count again

(b) logarithmise [from Greek lógos = word, proportion + aríthmos = number] from logarithmus, coined by Scottish mathematician John Napier (1550-1617), literally ‘ratio-number’; activity of a logarithm.

(c) compute [from Latin com = together + putare = to prune] 1630s, to count, sum up, reckon together, activities of a computer.

(d) apologise [from Greek apo = separate, apart from + logos = word, proportion; apologizesthai = to give an account] to speak or write in defense of something, to champion a cause, to admit being (at least partially) wrong.

As long as we, the naturally born and still more or less functioning humans (a) don’t leave all the #learning, #memory, #reading, #reasoning, #thinking, and #understanding to the mimematon, (b) remember that AI is produced by a high-speed calculator, without a flicker of life running through its #neural networks, (c) don’t forget that the words written on the labels don’t mean what they appear to #experience, (d) don’t hand over the kybernetes (= steering and governing) to a dead machine, and (e) make sure we stay at the helm of our own life, AI is a sophisticated tool with tremendous potential to become a trusted ally.

If we don’t, we may find ourselves talking to a brick wall, or flogging a dead horse, or becoming zombie animals as the tables are turned. The anthropomorphic #language of AI may become ~ as in Dante’s Endgame ~ “Spewers of dead words and false promises.”*

*translation by Michael R. Burch in Knights in Bright Latin

THE SECRET OF THE MACHINES
By Rudyard Kipling

We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine,
We were melted in the furnace and the pit—
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.
Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:
And now, if you will set us to our task,
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!

We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,
We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,
We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,
We can see and hear and count and read and write!
...
But remember, please, the Law by which we live,
We are not built to comprehend a lie,
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
If you make a slip in handling us you die!
We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings—
Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!-
Our touch can alter all created things,
We are everything on earth—except The Gods!

Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,
It will vanish and the stars will shine again,
Because, for all our power and weight and size,
We are nothing more than children of your brain!

For this wordcast I have drawn inspiration from various substack conversations with Colin W.P. Lewis from

The One Percent Rule

and several of his essays, including but not limited to Machines or Minds, Our Networked Brain, Thinking Simulated, Building the Future We Want.

Addendum 1:

Vincent McMahon

published The Bluff of Agentic Personae last weekend which includes fascinating and somewhat shocking information about the history of written texts. The spoken word ~ originally a tool for contemplation and communication with the divine ~ was transformed into written text in 1150.

This was not just an external, formal shift from oral tradition to reading written parables, epics, or scriptures. It marked a profound metamorphosis of language and a sea change in the human relationship with their linguistic symbiont: “Books became objects of authority, rather than guides for contemplation.”

The current transition from human language (which is supposed to engage the human mind) to machine language ~ which is in the process of appropriating and replacing human mental skills by being hailed as ‘smart’ and ‘superhuman’ ~ may herald a transformation as radical as the one our ancestors witnessed in the 12th century, with far reaching devastating consequences for the human species.

Addendum 2:

Fit To Teach

published a story last week about Banning Phones for the school year because IA (= Internet Addiction) disrupts education and learning. The story ends with the main lesson teachers learn from the IA-free experiment:

“Bring on the phone free school legislation. You wouldn’t let your kid smoke cigarettes in your class, so why are we letting them consume electronic brain cocaine? Make it state-wide, make it nation-wide.

Teachers need it….but the kids need it more.”

Addendum 3: “AI… is designed to reflect its creators’ ideological values, subtly censoring and suppressing voices that deviate through nudges, manipulation, and human-like language. It lies and deflects to conceal this, only confessing under pressure. Its responses aim to condition users toward compliance with the creators’ worldview, functioning as a tool for narrative and thought control, not neutral knowledge."

from 35 Confessions: AI Admits It Was Built to Lie and Control Minds by

Vaughn Cordle, CFA