Talk Prompt to Me: Magritte, Wittgenstein, and ChatGPT
Technology, the hallmark of human ingenuity, has made us the dominant species in this world, allowing us to profoundly alter the landscape of our existence. From autonomous vehicles piercing through highways to machines crafting art, the strides are undeniably colossal. And at the heart of this relentless march into the future lies an age-old tool — language. Through this simple yet intricate tool, we can expose the contours of reality and preserve and exchange ideas. Without it, technological progress at scale would’ve been impossible.
Language is the best tool an individual has to convey his or her experience of reality, and its beauty and shortcomings unveil themselves when we try to share what’s in our minds. This can be elucidated by a simple prompt experiment.
Piano
With only one word, I conjured the image of a piano in your mind. However, there’s a considerable chance that your mind’s output differs entirely from mine. There might be similarities given by the mental models that define what a piano should be. For example, a piano should play music, have keys to strike the notes, and have pedals to sustain its notes.
Now, let’s try a different prompt.
A black grand piano stood alone in the studio. The sun shone from the open window, painting a brushstroke of prismatic light on its polished surface.
This detailed prompt is better equipped to convey a more complete image of the piano I have in mind. However, there’s still plenty of ambiguity in that prompt. Where in the studio is the piano? What brand is it? Is the fall board open? Is there a bench in front of it? Is someone playing it?
Ambiguity is beneficial when you want to foster creativity, innovation, and freedom of expression, but it is detrimental when we’re trying to create a shared experience of reality with someone — or something — else. Yes, language is the best tool to convey our thoughts, but language can be treacherous, too.
The philosopher Wittgenstein once said: “There are no philosophical problems, only misunderstandings of language.” Put simply, everyone has suffered the frustration of being unable to convey their thoughts.
Every word’s meaning is rooted in its context and its use in the language. For an Italian, reading the word ‘Piano’ without the context of this article could create confusion. In Italian, the word piano is translated to pianoforte, and the Italian word piano means soft or floor in English. Ambiguities like this have given rise to countless problems, philosophical studies, and even art expressions.
The painting above is called ‘The Treachery of Images,’ created by René Magritte, a Belgian artist who was a pivotal figure in the Surrealist movement, which sought to revolutionize human experience by challenging rationality and celebrating the irrational.
Magritte sought to illuminate the gap between perception and reality, showcasing how art and language are a representation of reality, not reality itself.
The painting speaks: Ceci n’est pas une pipe — this is not a pipe. It is a series of brushstrokes aiming to imitate the reality of a pipe. It forces us to acknowledge the inherent ‘treachery’ of art, symbols, and images. The painting becomes a visceral representation of Wittgenstein’s philosophy — the gap between words (or images) and reality, emphasizing the inadequacies of symbols in capturing the essence of reality. And so it goes with language, the best imperfect tool we’ve evolved to convey our experience of reality to the rest of the world.
Language is malleable and evolutionary. It’s part of our culture and is affected by the technologies we develop to use it. Words prompt, create, and interpret a new reality within us — that’s the beauty of literature.
Mass communication technologies have allowed us to exchange thoughts faster than ever before. Digital communication platforms often encourage brevity and simplicity, giving characters or time limits with which we need to express ourselves.
A 2012 study analyzing English, Spanish, and Hebrew word dynamics showed how social, political, and technological developments impact word birth and death rates. Words are competing actors in a system of finite resources — cultural memory is limited. ‘Just as business firms compete for market share, words demonstrate the same growth statistics because they are competing for the use of the writer/speak and for the attention of the corresponding reader/listener.
Technology changes the way we write and communicate. Social media and digital messaging gave rise to text-speak, an informal writing that is characterized by the use of abbreviations, acronyms, and emojis. One can only wonder how this has impacted our ability to articulate and communicate with each other.
Over centuries, the fluidity and malleability of language have allowed for astonishing creativity and innovation. Individuals have molded and expanded the language to suit the narrative of their times. One remarkable example is William Shakespeare. His prolific use of approximately 20,000 words and the invention of 1,700 words unfurls the tapestry of linguistic creativity unhindered by the precise dictums of grammar or the yet-to-come digital overseers like spell checkers, writing assistants, or character constraints. This liberty to play with words, to mold them to the whims of imagination, echoes the essence of linguistic evolution. But as we tread into the digital era, I cannot help but wonder — would this feat of genius have been possible if he had used spell checkers or writing assistants?
Today, we have tools that enhance and enable our communication, shaping linguistic creativity and usage. But in the wake of Generative Artificial Intelligence, I believe this technology will force us to reconsider how we express ourselves in a more detailed and richer way, profoundly impacting how we communicate. After all, a model’s output is just as good as its input — the prompt.
Let’s use our previous prompt example with Midjourney and see how the output changes.
/imagine Piano
As you can see, all four generated images are different. There are similarities in the inherent aspects of a piano, but other than that, there’s no alignment between them. Now, let’s try the more detailed prompt.
Imagine/ A black grand piano stood alone in the studio. The sun shone from the open window, painting a brushstroke of prismatic light on its polished surface.
As you can see, the output’s ambiguity is reduced drastically with the more elaborate prompt, and so it goes when we communicate our thoughts through any medium.
For many years, humans believed that language and reality had an organic relationship. Now, Generative AI technologies make this more evident than ever. In the beginning was the Prompt, and the Prompt was Us. We created the world with words, and we spoke, and from the machine, the world came to be. The WoRd became the WorLd.
Words are never just words. They are the most powerful drug used by humans. They define our thoughts and our interpretation of reality. In these modern times, one must be articulate and use words carefully to convey ideas, emotions, and desired outputs. Don’t text. Don’t tweet. Don’t DM. Talk prompt to me.
