Tagged “epistemology”

1. Babel and Epistemological Crisis 14 February 2026

   LLMs are really good at translating between human languages. You can connect your smartphone to an LLM and use it to translate a conversation in real time. Combine that capability with earbuds and you have a real-life version of the babelfish from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

   Douglas Adams' "babelfish" was, of course, a reference to Genesis 11. In that passage God confuses human language in judgment (and mercy) on mankind for their self-satisfied hubris in building the Tower of Babel. This account is one the Bible's most significant comments about how God views human technology. The fact that we've now produced technology that seems to undo the judgment at Babel does not seem to bode well for our future.

   Read more

See all tags.