TrueLife - Platforms, Algorithms & Castle Walls: The Digital Kingdoms That Rule Our Minds

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/In the modern world, our castles are coded and our kings are unseen. Platforms and algorithms have become the new feudal lords — shaping our conversations, filtering our perceptions, and deciding what reality looks like. In this episode, George Monty explores the architecture of digital power, the psychology of algorithmic influence, and the human cost of life inside these invisible kingdoms.In this episode:How algorithms quietly engineer behavior and emotionThe psychology of control and dependency in digital spacesWhy social platforms mirror medieval hierarchiesThe illusion of choice in algorithmic designStrategies for reclaiming digital sovereignty and awarenessTranscripthttps://app.podscribe.ai/episode/55965045Speaker 0 (0s): Well, well, well, Hello. My friends. Did you miss me? I missed you. I hope you're well, a smile. And right now our blue skies, smiling at you or the waves waiving to you who Whoo over here. Hey com take a dip. Water is nice. How about the trees? The trees bending their branches low for you. Can you smell that? Ah, fresh air for me? It's the salt there, Speaker 1 (39s): Right? Speaker 0 (43s): We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another to account for its origin. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint Speaker 1 (1m 6s): And lo it is our own Arthur S Eddington had a thought today. Speaker 0 (1m 18s): Maybe you will share this thought AB you have had this thought. Maybe you were thinking of it right now. No, no, no, its not how handsome I am. But if you're having that thought, you're not alone. Trust me. You're not alone. The thought I had was about change, not the kind of in your pocket. No real change, different presidents, Deserts and oceans change. You can see a, a forest being clear. Cut. That's changed. How about moving from one town to another? That's changed. How about your environment? Let's just kind of expand it out a little bit. The environment in which you live is changing, right? I'm sure you can think of multiple ways of change, but have you thought about this? Have you thought that when you have experienced change, it's not that The subject in which has changed. It's not that what you're thinking about has changed. It's not the subject of what you're thinking about that has changed. It is your thoughts that have changed. Do you see the difference there? Speaker 1 (2m 53s): Right? Speaker 0 (2m 54s): There's a difference. Profound change comes from at things in a different way. And when that is unconscious, when Speaker 1 (3m 6s): If you do not Speaker 0 (3m 12s): Make the conscious change, it seems as though the environment changes, the environment is constantly changing. And if you don't take a few moments to stop and look around as Ferris Bueller says, then you won't notice the change, Speaker 1 (3m 29s): Right? Speaker 0 (3m 35s): If you wanted to, you could fundamentally change the way you think about yourself and you would fundamentally change your life. Interesting to think about, right? I think so it gets me on this topic of language is right, Speaker 1 (3m 52s): Right. Speaker 0 (3m 55s): It's been growing in my mind for quite some time. I feel compelled. I feel almost obsessed with, and I feel like I'm on the cusp of finding something new about our language. I know that sounds egoistic, Speaker 1 (4m 16s): Right? Speaker 0 (4m 16s): Translating symbols into sounds, you know, in my last podcast, if you'd get a chance, go back and check it out is called a more perfect logos. And I was doing this thought experiment where I would say a word and I would, I would give the word that I set a color as it flowed from my mouth. And I based that a little bit on the tone in which I use so that the tone of my voice would match the word in my mind. I believe there was a similar frequency that would match and that would help facilitate a more perfect correspondence and language. I got a great comment or multiple comments on my awesome YouTube channel and on the podcast and this gentlemen was saying, wow, wouldn't that be cool? That this was a game in which I could listen or I can watch your YouTube videos. And then I could see the colors of the words coming out of my mouth. I thought, yes, that would be phenomenal. Alas, it's impossible. Or is it, how about the advent of Not virtual reality, but augmented reality, would it be possible clearly it would be possible. And in virtual reality for you to see the physical come out of my mouth with a corresponding color, whether it was written in code, I could code the words or code the tone to create the words coming out of my mouth to be a certain color than you. Dear listener. If we were in a conversation in the world of virtual reality or potentially even augmented reality, I could listen to your flowery rhetoric and decorate the words coming out of your mouth with the words coming out of my mouth. And it seems to me that that would be more of a whole conversation. That would be a symphony of words of two people communicating, but communicating together is that kind of makes sense. Imagine if I was to respond to what you had to say with perfect rebuttal that either decorated the words you had to say And would that not help us reach enlightenment faster? Speaker 1 (7m 19s): Right. Speaker 0 (7m 20s): I think at the core of my concept, I'm struggling with perceptions of words. In fact, are not ideas were ideas are words, it's all sounds or words. So I did a bit of research and I've found that different parts of the brain obviously receive information. And two of the major parts, everybody knows this is Verna Cause area and Broca's area. However, you know, there is also a third area that is like the angular gyrus, Speaker 1 (8m 10s): Right? Speaker 0 (8m 10s): Which actually might be on top of Veronica, Veronica area there. Speaker 1 (8m 18s): The reason I bring that up is Speaker 0 (8m 21s): The spoken word, including you, when you say a word or other sounds, Speaker 1 (8m 29s): Right? Speaker 0 (8m 35s): According to the research that I did and that scenario, the spoken word, even your own, and other sounds goes directly to the angular, gyrus, Speaker 1 (8m 52s): Other people's words or Speaker 0 (8m 59s): A week, or when you recall of a list of words are processed and a slightly different area. Additionally images Speaker 1 (9m 17s): Are processed Speaker 0 (9m 22s): In the right hemisphere of the brain. According to the research I read, clearly I should be doing more research and I...

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Hears through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Kodex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Well, well, well, hello, my friends. Did you miss me? I missed you. I hope you're well. Are you smiling right now?

Are blue skies smiling at you? Are the waves waving to you? Hoo-hoo, over here. Hey, come take a dip. Water's nice. How about the trees? The trees bending their branches low for you. Can you smell that?

Ah, fresh air. For me, it's the salt air. We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories one after another to account for its origin. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo, it is our own, Arthur S. Eddington. I had a thought today. maybe you will share this thought.

Maybe you have had this thought. Maybe you're thinking it right now. No, no, no. It's not how handsome I am. But if you're having that thought, you're not alone. Trust me, you're not alone. The thought I had was about change. Not the kind in your pocket.

No, real change. Different presidents, deserts and oceans. change you can see a forest being clear cut that's change how about moving from one town to another that's change how about your environment let's just kind of expand it out a little bit the environment in which you live is changing right i'm sure you can think of multiple ways of change but have you thought about this have you thought that when you've experienced experience change. It's not that the subject in which has changed. It's not that what your thinking about has changed. It's not the subject of what you're thinking about that has changed.

It is your thoughts that have changed. You see the difference there? There's a difference. profound change comes from looking at things in a different way. And when that's unconscious, when you do not make the conscious change, it seems as though the environment changes. The environment is constantly changing. And if you don't take a few moments to stop and look around, as Ferris Bueller says,

then you won't notice the change. If you wanted to, you could fundamentally change the way you think about yourself and you would fundamentally change your life. Interesting to think about, right? I think so. It gets me on this topic of language that's been growing in my mind for quite some time. I feel compelled. I feel almost obsessed with and I feel like I'm on the cusp of finding something new about our language. I know that sounds egoistic.

translating symbols into sounds. You know, my last podcast, if you get a chance, go back and check it out. It is called a more perfect logos. And I was doing this thought experiment where I would say a word. And I would give the word that I said a color as it flowed from my mouth. And I based that. a little bit on the tone in which I use so that the tone of my voice would match the word.

In my mind, I believe there's a similar frequency that would match. And that would help facilitate a more perfect correspondence in language. I got a great comment or multiple comments on my awesome YouTube channel and on the podcast. And this gentleman was saying, wow, wouldn't that be cool if this was a game in which I could listen or I could watch your YouTube video and then I could see the colors of the words coming out of my mouth? And I thought, yes, that would be phenomenal. Alas, it's impossible. Or is it? How about the advent of not virtual reality, but augmented reality?

Would it be possible? Clearly, it would be possible in virtual reality for you to see the physical words come out of my mouth with a corresponding color. Whether it was written in code, I could code the words or code the tone to create the words coming out of my mouth to be a certain color. Then you, dear listener, if we were in a conversation in the world of virtual reality or potentially even augmented reality. I could listen to your flowery rhetoric and decorate the words coming out of your mouth with the words coming out of my mouth. And it seems to me that that would be more of a whole conversation. That would be a symphony of words of two people communicating, but communicating together. Does that kind of make sense? Imagine. Imagine. if I was to respond to what you had to say with a perfect rebuttal that either decorated the words you had to say

and would that not help us reach enlightenment faster? I think at the core of my concept, I'm struggling with perceptions of words. In fact, are not ideas. Ideas are words. All sounds are words. So I did a bit of research and I found that different parts of the brain obviously receive information. Two of the major parts, everybody knows this is Vernica's area and Broca's area. However, there's also a third area that is like the angular gaias, which actually might.

might be on top of Vernica's area there. The reason I bring that up is the spoken word, including you when you say a word or other sounds. According to the research that I did, in that scenario, the spoken word, even your own and other sounds goes directly to the angular gaias. Other people's words. or a re or when you recall a list of words are processed in a slightly different area. Additionally, images are processed in the right hemisphere of the brain,

according to the research I read. Clearly, I should be doing more research. And I'm trying nonverbal, the images, your dress, your posture, your attitude, body position. The what is, I think this is a beautiful part right here, what is often referred to the music of language, the tone, infliction, and the rhythm, all of these alter the meanings of the words we use. And so, and so, and so, that brings me full scale to where we are at in today's world. I feel as if we are on the cusp of some new things. However, what I. I. want to or what I would like some people to think about is the issue with linear print,

the issue with how, what is it, the issue with social media and how social media and how social media and linear print are in my way devolving our language, whether it's Twitter with 140 characters or a quick email or sometimes. if you have a phone, you already have pre-installed rebuttals to text that you can hit with a button that requires very little thinking on that particular subject. You see, one reason in my mind for this is because there's none of the physical imagery available for the body to process. Additionally, there's no movement.

and I would like to further investigate movement as language. However, when you process information, when you process linear print in a virtual world, and by virtual world, I mean like in a Zoom meeting or a Google meet meeting, I will agree that you see the movement on the other side, but there's something about the physicality of being

in a conversation, the ability to, maybe it's the olifactory sense. Maybe it's something, it's something visceral about being there in the conversation that changes the conversation. As our world has moved online and as our language describes our environment, I believe we will continue to see a further. their narrowing of our language leading to much unhealthy lifestyles, which is perpetuated, or maybe perpetuate is not the right word. It is this idea that we can live in a virtual world

and remain. It's as if popular thinking says we can live in a virtual world. That has ever expanded. However, for us, it's becoming more narrow. Let me try and clean that up. You can go anywhere you want on the internet. However, statistics show that most people go to like the same seven sites.

Rarely going outside the stores you know to buy a product you may have heard of somewhere else. I think that's a gigantic issue for human cognition. We have more people on the planet than we've ever had. And one of the number one problems in society today is loneliness. Even though, according to some research, you can fall in love with Siri or your computer. It's frightening me. It is frightening to me to think all of the money being rammed into tech stocks in order to automate the world. It's as if a handful of people with the number one priority being economics have decided that we're going to throw out the entirety of human evolution and just create products made by other products.

And that will create abundance for humans. I think what we're going to see is a continued inability to communicate with one another. Platforms, algorithms, and the castle walls. What do you mean by that, George? Well, platforms and platforms are clearly social media platforms. Amazon, where you go to the storefront platforms. Algorithms are the way in which the language is given to us. Algorithms are the way in which some researchers have decided to program an artificial intelligence to think for us.

Algorithms are a sort of a neural network. However, however, however much some tech genius believes the algorithm to be superior to the human brain or believes that in time it will be. I would like to ask that guy how long. It seems the algorithm is limiting. And how can any algorithm become more... How can any algorithm learn to be more complex

than an organism that taught it? if it's if it's if it's if it's programmed to become omnipotent that's impossible it cannot be you can't and in i don't know i'm not sure people i'm not sure how i got here you with me so far all right let me back it up a little bit platforms algorithms and the castle wall you see it's this these platforms and these algorithms that are building a wall around us and that wall around us is a wall of impenetrable communication. The platforms and the algorithms are changing our speech and when they change our speech, they change our thoughts. You cannot think yourself out of a prison made of thought. If you

are going to streamline the language, if you're going to take words and out of the language. You are going to take away solutions. I've often heard multiple people talk about and I think it was the original founders of Google who said that where Google is failing is in returning search results, plural. In fact, when you ask Google, it should give you one result. That's tyranny. It should just say tyranny. Everything you ask Google should just say tyranny. By definition, we can't know. That's where laughter comes from.

Laughter is the mechanism in which we realize we don't know what the hell we're talking about. And if you study hard enough and become an expert in something, you'll eventually find yourself rolling on the floor laughing because the more you learn about it, the more you realize you don't know anything about it. And neither did anybody before you. laughter is humility. Laughter is the understanding that we as humans can try to make sense out of things.

And that's all we can do. We cannot know things. However, we can try to make sense out of things. And that is something we can do with the language. but we can't do it with language if we're going to keep simplifying it not if we're going to knock everything down to 140 characters not if we are going to try and take words out of the lexicon

not if we're going to censor things that this that particular censoring and the streamlining of words they make it impossible for us to communicate those are the castle walls being built around us let's take it back a little further if we know that certain parts of the brain process speech differently. Let's be clear.

The spoken word, the words I use, when I say something, that goes directly into Verneka's area or what we have labeled the angular gaias. When you see an image that could quite possibly be processed in the corresponding area on the right hemisphere of the brain. So if you're just seeing linear print without an image, you are not accessing the right hemisphere of the brain. You're only getting a snippet. Thus, we have the three wise men and the elephant. It's a tree trunk.

It's a lion. It's neither. It seems to me that our communication is so primitive already. the last thing we need to do is simplify it. Let me give you an opposite example. I gave you the example of reading linear print, which doesn't have any of the non-verbal in there. There's no dress, posture, attitude, body position.

None of the music of language comes with the printed linear word. Unless, unless, unless are you ready for it unless we use something like a manuscript remember those something you would see in carl young's red book maybe something you would see merlin in merlin's magic room something you would see in medieval europe can you close your eyes and envision one words written in different colored ink some big some small almost like little characters

to the right a large drawing of a sort of mandala is that what it's called mandolos? You know what I'm talking about. At that point in time even if that was printed

you'd have some visual aids to go with it and you'd be better able to process the information, the language. Right? If I give you a map and I give you the list of this,

the states, you can know the states. But if I give you that same map with the outline of the states and the name in them, you have a much better understanding. It seems to me we're going in the opposite direction. No one wants the color coded map with the name of the states in a minute. Hey, just give me the list of the states. Just give me the list of the states. And when you start simplifying it like that, you run into problems.

Because like if I gave you a list of states, Without the map, you could be like, okay, California, Arizona. And because we were on two different wavelengths, someone who didn't know what those states were could confuse those states with, oh, well, California is synonymous with happy. North Carolina is synonymous with sad. That's what these mean.

You know, it can get lost in translation. And isn't it interesting that it was in medieval times? They had the manuscripts before they had the printed word. Is it possible to make the claim that those manuscripts were actually a better text than the printed word? Perhaps it was the printed word that was able to provide people with an opportunity for literacy on a mass scale. Perhaps it's also fair to say that that's why it was in fact the end of alchemy as we know it. How about the synthesis of the two? calligraphy have you ever seen someone write in calligraphy have you ever seen someone who was really

skilled perhaps a wedding announcement in today's time or the the instances are becoming fewer and fewer however i would argue that calligraphy is as much of an image as it is a word and i think when you see that when you see calligraphy you are processing that word and image simultaneously on both sides of the brain a weaker form of calligraphy might be cursive really well-written cursive is beautiful to look at it's romantic it's curious it's think of a really awesome descriptive adjective that you love and that's what it is. It's descriptive. Listen to that word,

descriptive. And what is print? Print. Print. Print. Print. It's like a one syllable grunt. I like to print.

Hey, I'm going to print this out. I'm going to print this out. I'm going to print it out. It's amazing to me. I saw a while back a young woman was on the, there was some crime that was done. She was being, she was being questioned by an attorney. I forgot what it was. However, the attorney, in an attempt to show the woman was incompetent,

brought up a letter that had something to do with the case and asked the young woman to read it. And by young woman, I think she was 22. He says, would you please read to me? the first paragraph of this. And she says, I don't, I don't understand cursive. And it was, it seemed clear to me that it was not a woman on the stand trying to stonewall an attorney. It was an honest answer. I'm not judging the individual.

Well, I guess I am judging her. I'm judging her in the sense that it was the language, arts that failed her. It was the language arts that have failed us. When one can only read print, one can only see one dimension of the world. I think if you really, truly would like to have a better understanding of the world, is imperative to try and learn as many languages as possible.

Does print prefer the robot? Print is the language of the digital age. or I guess that would be code ones and zeros. However, I would throw that and tell me if I'm wrong here, but I would throw ones and zeros and codes into linear print. I think that you can type out code in linear print. It's interesting in a lot of ways. Translating symbols into sound.

Speech, concept. There's something there, my friend. there's something there I hope we choose to move through this world with a new type of language I hope we can begin to see our way out of chaos

I believe the only way out of the predicament in which we're in is to explain to elegantly explain and not only explain explain, but use the soothing words necessary in order to bring peace to one another. And I think it has to come from language.

So many of us end up in poor spots in life due to the simple fact that we fail to communicate effectively. There should be something soothing in the ideas you express. one can try and empathize with people. However, we need to have another form of, we need something else to better communicate that empathy. On a little side note, I had this idea today that there's a lot of diversity

and different people, different languages and different cultures. and when we look to find the differences, we're going to find them. And you could argue that maybe that's why we're here. However, doesn't it make more sense that we're just one giant organism learning about itself? Hey, look at this is this part of me. We're like a giant baby playing with its feet.

Like, what is this thing? My damn toe over here. Look at this thing. wiggle in it. The baby's wiggling the toe. On a side note, you're something cool you can do. If you have, if you have like a brand new baby, get like a little bell and then tie some string on it and then loop that little string around the baby's toe. And the baby will kick his toe and he'll make the bell go and watch his eyes light up. He's like, where's that sound coming from? What's the sound coming from? I think that's a good metaphor for us as individuals. It's not that we're white or we're black or we're

red or we're yellow or we're Catholic or we're Muslim. It's that we're the body. And there's a great little limerick that goes something like this. The hands and the feet and the mouth were doing all the work. And he started talking to go, you know what? Getting the hands said, I'm getting tired of grabbing things. The feet said, I'm getting tired of walking around. The mouth said, yeah, I'm getting tired of chewing everything and having to swallow stuff. We do all the work and the greedy stomach just gets all the food, gets all the nutrients. He doesn't do anything. So the feet and the hands in the mouth go on strike.

The feet don't walk. The hands don't grab. The mouth don't eat. And then they begin to get weak. Two days. Three days. They can barely move. and it's on the fifth day

when they can't move at all that they realize it's the stomach that distributes the nutrients to the limbs that gives the feet the energy to walk the hands the strength to grasp

and the mouth the ability to speak they're a team they're connected they are the body we're all together You may not see what the person next to you does for you. You may not understand it.

You may not be able to understand it. Maybe our language is similar to our neural network. Maybe our language is the neurotransmitters being passed between the synaptic gap. Maybe different cultures are different dendrites. And our language is the neurotransmitter being passed back and forth. It would make sense if, have you spoken to someone and seen their face flush, the bumps on their skin rise? Their faces flush. The bumps on the skin rise.

The beautiful girls bat their eyes. Oh, George, you're so handsome. Ha, ha, ha. Okay, okay. I'm not that handsome. Maybe a little bit. Okay, I'm sorry. No one wants to hear that.

Take it easy, George. Just saying, we could be like the neurotransmitters and the synaptic gap. Well, how does that get us any further, George? How does that help us with language? Well, the only way to really come up with new ideas and new language is to use the existing language we have. The only way to do that is to maybe change the position of words in a new metaphor. Right? You know what I mean by that?

the only way we can come up with something new is to rearrange something old. I'm not going to find helium 12 in the parking lot of an airport. Metaphor, it seems, is a matter of teaching an old word, new tricks, of applying an old label in a new way. If one wants to describe a new insight, how can one do so except in terms of what is already familiar, extending the meaning of the known to the unknown. The metaphorical bridging of the new and old is precisely the mechanism that makes cognitive shifts possible. And for that reason, metaphors function as far-reaching instruments

for the theoretical language of science in scientific reasoning itself. imaginative yet logical. It's imaginative yet logical way of employing the familiar in order to discover what lies beyond the familiar. Generally speaking, the interest of an innovative idea is not that it is new, but that it is old,

in the sense that it draws upon available knowledge as a source of producing knowledge. In this process, previous selections are circulated to new areas rather than being invented and thereby reproduced and transformed. Invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination

of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory. Nothing can come of nothing, he who laid up no materials can produce no combinations. Okay, let me dissect that one a little bit further because I just caught something in there. Invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those keyword images. So, my friends, if you're going to use a metaphor, it's important to understand that this kind of brings me back that this is why metaphors are so powerful.

You're using both sides. You're using the master and emissary. You're using the right hemisphere, using the images of metaphor with the sanctity and the seriousness of speech. And that's whole brain communication. That's the type of communication that gives girls goosebumps. That's the type of communication that makes men want to fight.

It is necessary to clarify that the novel and the old are not mutually exclusive. Moreover, the novel can be comprehended only in so far as it bears upon known facts. The very nature of hypothetical thinking requires the sort of semantic cross-fertilization that is typical of metaphors. One can also say that metaphors have a hypothetical nature

for they suggest possible new meanings. In attempting to describe the unknown, the scientist must use terms that are known. You see, that is another reason why it's so difficult to bring something back from a psychedelic experience. Let me read that again, so you guys

that understand that can understand this. The problem for a really deep psychedelic trip is to bring something back. If you're going to go deep, if you're going seven, eight, nine, 15, 18 grams, you're going to lose the ability to talk for a while. If you're going to do some hardcore psychedelic journeying, remember, your job is to bring back something for the tribe. It's difficult because language fails. In attempting to describe the unknown, The psychonaut must use terms that are known.

That is how you do it. That's how you do it. A completely novel explanation is a logical impossibility. It would be incomprehensible, imponderable, like an expressible or unknowable fact, like an inexpressible or unknowable fact. Isn't that funny? Like people always have these ideas of what aliens look like.

By the very definition, you can't even understand what an alien is because it's alien. It is, in fact, imponderable. An inexpressible or unknowable fact. The structure of cognitive processes past as well as present is such that it cannot allow for absolute novelty

which lacks all correspondence with existing meanings and the overall scheme of things. For we can create nothing new. We can only combine or separate the ideas which we have already received by our perceptions. Thus, if I wish to represent a monster, I call to mine the ideas of everything disagreeable and horrible, and combine the next. nastiness and gluttony of a hog, the stupidity and obstinacy of an ass with the fur and awkwardness of a bear and call the new combination Calablila.

Yet such a monster may exist in nature as all his attributes are part of nature. So what I wish to represent everything that is excellent. So when I wish to represent everything that is excellent and amiable, when I combine benevolence with cheerfulness, wisdom with knowledge, taste, wit, and beauty of person, and associate them in one lady as a pattern to the world. It is called invention. Yet such a person may exist.

Such a person does exist. It is who is as much as, a monster as Kalish Blah. I should use a different name. Let me read those two parts again, so it makes a better sense for you. I call to mine the ideas of everything disagreeable and horrible and combine the nastiness and gluttony of a hog, the stupidity of an ass with the fur and awkwardness of a bear and call the new combination Caliban. Yet such a monster may exist in nature, as all his attributes are part of nature. Do you understand that? Everything I said exists already. I didn't make up anything new. I just added parts of ridiculousness that are already in nature. It's not new. It's a new combination,

but it's not new. Yet such a monster may exist in nature as all his attributes are part of nature. So when I wish to represent everything that is excellent and amiable, when I combine benevolence with cheerfulness, wisdom, knowledge, taste, wit, beauty of person and elegance of manners, and associate them in one lady as a pattern to the world. It is called invention. Yet such a person may exist. Such a person does exist. It is who is as much a monster as Caliban. The formation of new concepts is a product of new combinations. New concept. New concept. formation is not the formation of anything new, but is recombination of old. It can be claimed, my friends, that the very possibility of learning something radically new can only be understood by presupposing

the operation of something very much like metaphor. This is not just the heuristic claim that metaphors are often useful in learning, but the epistemic claim, that metaphor or something like it renders intelligible the acquisition of new knowledge. There are no adequate substitutions for metaphors. I love you.