I also received an offline note about a linguistic theory that emphasizes semantics rather than syntax:
Methods that emphasize semantics have been used in conjunction with ontology to correct and avoid the errors and hallucinations created by LLMs. For critical applications, 99% correct can be a disaster. Nobody wants to fly in an airplane that has a 1% chance of crashing.
LLMs are very good for translating linear languages and notations. But when accuracy is essential, precise semantics is much more important than elegant syntax.
I also want to emphasize Section 3. That begins with slide 32, which has the title Neuro-Cognitive Cycles. The word 'cognitive' is much more general than 'symbolic', since it includes images as well as linear notations for language. Note slide 7, which shows an image in the mind of a policeman, and the attempt by a man who is trying to reconstruct an image from a verbal explanation.
In slide 24, I added a picture of a baby who is using sign language. For multi-dimensional topics, a sign language can be more detailed and precise that a spoken language.
This section also emphasizes Peirce's methods of reasoning in Slides 33 and 34, and their applications in the remaining slides. Slide 35 on the Central Executive, as defined by neuroscientists, shows how to avoid the errors, hallucinations, and dangers created by the Large Language Models (LLMs): Include a Central Executive, which has the responsibility and the power to evaluate any proposed language or actions and revise or reject those that may be erroneous or even dangerous.
Also note slide 39 on "Wicked Problems"; slide 40, which explains "Why Humans are not obsolete; and Slide 41, which asks whether there is "A Path to AGI?" The answer to that question is joke by George Burns, which might be taken seriously.
That reminds me of a remark by Ludwig Wittgenstein: "It's possible to write a book on philosophy that consists entirely of jokes." A Zen Buddhist could write a book on religion that consists entirely of jokes. Depending on the definition of 'joke', somebody might say that they have.
John