The hottest Language Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Math is a Language. This is how you should learn it. [Math Mondays]

Technology Made Simple • 99 implied HN points • 14 Jun 22
🚌 Education Language
  1. Math is a language that helps express complex ideas in quantifiable ways, and understanding it is crucial for technical careers like AI and Engineering.
  2. Many people struggle with Math because they try to learn topics without understanding the context around them, similar to trying to learn a language without knowing any words or sentence structures.
  3. Learning Math effectively involves treating it like learning a language, starting with simple 'sentences' for specific situations, practicing, and gradually branching out to more complex ideas.

What is a Belief (Part 2: Language, Truth, and Logic)

Ethics Under Construction • 15 implied HN points • 02 Aug 25
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. A belief is when we say something is true about a thought. We give thoughts the property of being true based on our perspective.
  2. Language is a way to share our thoughts, but it doesn't always need to be logical. Even strange phrases can still communicate ideas.
  3. Truth is about how our beliefs relate to reality. We assign truth to our thoughts, but the world is already true without our beliefs influencing it.

On not reading (in English)

The Leftovers • 79 implied HN points • 11 Aug 22
📚 Literature Language
  1. Taking a break from Anglophone literature and exploring works in different languages can introduce fresh themes and perspectives.
  2. Reading works by authors from various backgrounds, like Alberto Prunetti's, can provide unique and endearing storytelling experiences.
  3. Exploring literature in original languages, like Italian in the case of Prunetti's book, can offer a deeper understanding of the language nuances and cultural diversity.
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Walk This Way

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 99 implied HN points • 20 Oct 22
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Animals move in different ways, like marmots and chipmunks scurrying quickly, while bears just stroll. Observing these movements can make us appreciate the natural world.
  2. Walking slowly and enjoying our surroundings, like with the Italian concept of struscio, helps us take in details and connect with our environment and others.
  3. Exploring a city by strolling can reveal hidden details and experiences. It's a great way to learn about new places or rediscover familiar ones.

One and a half knots

Soaring Twenties • 131 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
📚 Literature Language
  1. The story depicts a family on a unique island-hopping vacation.
  2. The father and son enjoy adventures and playful interactions.
  3. The narrative weaves humor and imagination as they explore the surroundings.

An Antiquarian Abecedary

Autoscriptorium • 39 implied HN points • 01 Mar 23
📚 Literature Language
  1. The post discusses unique, old English words and their origins, shedding light on their fascinating meanings.
  2. Many of the words presented originate from the sixteenth century, showcasing the richness of the English language during that period.
  3. The examples given range from terms relating to emotions and actions, to ones describing physical elements like frost or speech patterns.

On Corporate Rhetoric

Autoscriptorium • 39 implied HN points • 03 Feb 23
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Corporate rhetoric can often be confusing and more about obfuscating than communicating.
  2. Success in the corporate world is a mix of individual effort and market forces, leading to a superstitious environment.
  3. Three principles of corporate rhetoric include reflection, sublimation, and momentum, each playing a unique role in communication and decision-making.

Using AI in education, Part 1

Solresol • 19 implied HN points • 12 Dec 23
🚌 Education Language
  1. Consider using AI for translating educational materials to make learning more accessible to students with different language backgrounds.
  2. Engaging students by providing educational content in their native language can improve their learning experience and motivation.
  3. Discuss the evolving importance of improving English fluency versus providing education in native languages to cater to global diversity.

Humans, LLMs, and the symbol grounding problem (pt. 2)

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 07 Dec 22
🕹 Technology Language
  1. Understanding language might not need physical experiences. This means that Large Language Models could potentially understand language differently than humans do.
  2. People can grasp abstract concepts and visual information even without direct experiences, like those who are blind or those with aphantasia. This challenges the idea that you must physically experience something to understand it.
  3. Using language itself can be a way to learn about the world. Language helps us form ideas and understand concepts, even if we haven't experienced everything firsthand.

Language, Understanding and Medicine

Journal of Gurdjieff Studies • 39 implied HN points • 01 Jan 23
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. Language plays a significant role in understanding and medicine according to Gurdjieff's teachings, suggesting that understanding is dependent on language.
  2. Gurdjieff's exploration of language, human mentation, and understanding is closely linked to his teachings on medicine, hypnotism, and consciousness.
  3. The concept of understanding is viewed as a form of medicine, serving as a harmonizing factor in our lives.

Overloading and appropriation

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 39 implied HN points • 17 May 23
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. Overloading 'risk' means using the word for many situations that aren't really risky. This can lead to confusion and poor decision-making because we apply the wrong methods to deal with those situations.
  2. Appropriating 'uncertainty' refers to using the term in ways that suggest it can be easily measured or controlled. This misleads us into thinking we can manage all unknowns when some can't be quantified and should be treated differently.
  3. Both overloading and appropriation give us a false sense of comfort. They make scary unknown situations feel more manageable when, in reality, we might be ignoring important nuances.

Can Australia Get Any Dumber?

Cosy Moments • 36 implied HN points • 12 Dec 24
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Australia's universities are cutting language and humanities courses for financial reasons. This makes it harder for students to learn about different cultures.
  2. The Vice-Chancellor's past actions at other universities show a trend of prioritizing profit over education in languages and humanities. This raises concerns about the future of cultural diversity in academia.
  3. Celebrating cultural diversity while cutting language courses is hypocritical. This inconsistency highlights a broader issue of ignoring the value of diverse cultural and artistic expressions.

the ways to say, I love you | poem

Tumbleweed Words • 28 implied HN points • 29 Jan 25
📚 Literature Language
  1. Spanish has more ways to express love compared to English, showing cultural richness in emotional expression.
  2. Expressions of love can be simple and come from the heart, not necessarily using many words.
  3. In Latin America, affectionate gestures like kisses and hugs are common, making love visible and accessible to everyone.

📏 How To Build A Mayan Keyboard

Reboot • 10 implied HN points • 16 Jul 25
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. The Codical Mayan project aims to encode the Mayan writing system into Unicode. This will help preserve the ancient language and make it accessible on modern computers.
  2. Mayan culture is one of the most well-preserved indigenous cultures, providing a unique opportunity to explore and document its language and traditions. This work allows people to connect with their heritage.
  3. Technology can play a big role in revitalizing indigenous languages. New tools can help people create dictionaries and learning materials, making it easier for them to learn and share their languages.

The short outburst of activity during Ruby Changelog preparation—2025 edition

zverok on lucid code • 28 implied HN points • 06 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Language
  1. Ruby releases a new version every year on December 25th. This has been consistent since 2013, which makes it easier for developers to plan their updates.
  2. A changelog is created that details all the noteworthy changes in the Ruby language. This includes explanations and examples to help developers understand the updates better.
  3. The changelog process helps improve Ruby's documentation and sometimes identifies issues that need to be fixed before the new version is released.

Summer

Eclecticism: Reflections on literature, writing and life • 8 implied HN points • 31 Jul 25
📚 Literature Language
  1. Cryptic crosswords are tricky puzzles that require solving clues in a playful way. Unlike regular crosswords, you need to think creatively and not take clues at face value.
  2. In cryptic crosswords, clues can have double meanings, leading you to the answer in unexpected ways. For example, words like 'wicked' can relate to 'wick' in 'candle' instead of 'bad'.
  3. The fun of cryptic crosswords comes from the challenge and the groans you make when you finally figure out a clever clue. It's all about enjoying language and wordplay.

New words #4

Mutual Information • 19 implied HN points • 14 Feb 23
📚 Literature Language
  1. New words encountered can be researched and recorded for future reference.
  2. Different biological terms like ecotone and phyllosphere describe specific regions and habitats.
  3. Vocabulary expansion can be beneficial, offering insight into various scientific fields.

Rediscovering Narratability

Breaking Smart • 107 implied HN points • 05 Aug 23
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. Strong narratability helps us separate macro and micro influences in our lives effectively.
  2. Narrative technologies shape our ability to make sense of reality and influence our decision-making.
  3. Different narrative technologies impact what events are easily understood or confusing based on assumptions about reality and human agency.

Awareness is Fun

mindmagic • 19 implied HN points • 01 Apr 23
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Increasing and sustaining awareness can be done through innovative methods.
  2. Engaging in arbitrary day-long rules can lead to unexpected situations and personal growth.
  3. Exploring different cultural practices, like Russian smileys, can offer new perspectives and challenges.

The Sound of Encroaching Footsteps, by X.T.X. (Part 2)

Chinese Meme • 19 implied HN points • 18 Mar 23
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. The song 'The Sound of Encroaching Footsteps' by X.T.X. explores different reactions people have to situations, like fear, happiness, singing aloud, or hiding.
  2. The song emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting that everyone reacts differently to life's ups and downs.
  3. The lyrics of the song highlight the theme of hidden emotions, showing the significance of expressing inner feelings rather than concealing them.

Gender and Language

Mag’s Monthly • 19 implied HN points • 23 Jul 23
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Gender is a social construct that has evolved over time.
  2. The roles of masculinity and femininity in society have historical roots.
  3. Leadership involves understanding changing social dynamics and adapting to new norms.

Interpretability

Infinitely More • 28 implied HN points • 30 Nov 24
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. In math, we can understand one idea by using another. It's like using different languages to explain the same thing.
  2. Sometimes, when we translate ideas back and forth, we lose some meaning, similar to playing a game of telephone.
  3. To make this work, we create special objects in a new system that can help us relate and understand the original idea better.

Have You Heard This Annoying Expression?

The Reclamation Era • 39 implied HN points • 15 Feb 23
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. The phrase 'taking a selfish' is seen as a demeaning way to describe women taking care of themselves. It makes self-care sound bad or wrong.
  2. Women often shrink their choices to trendy terms instead of proudly pursuing what makes them happy. This reflects societal pressures and expectations.
  3. It's important to recognize that self-care decisions shouldn't be labeled as selfish, especially when men rarely face the same judgement for doing things they enjoy.

What Does the Word "Russian" Actually Mean?

Tessa Fights Robots • 23 implied HN points • 17 Dec 24
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. The word 'Russian' is complicated and doesn't define one's origins clearly. It refers to a huge area and mix of cultures rather than a specific identity.
  2. There are many theories about where the word 'Rus' comes from, including connections to Vikings or ancient tribes, but no one really knows for sure.
  3. People from Russia likely have diverse ancestry due to historical mixing, making them a blend of many nations and beautiful stories, not just defined by pain.

Memes and our metamodern condition

The Rectangle • 56 implied HN points • 08 Mar 24
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Memes can be a reflection of our current cultural age, functioning as a microcosm of our metamodern condition.
  2. Metamodernism allows us to seamlessly flip between the eras of modernism and postmodernism, adapting to constant contradiction.
  3. Meme culture reflects how our relationship with art has evolved, with art living beyond its traditional medium and becoming a participatory, transformative experience.

Five critical patch updates for the English language

Thoughts on Writing • 99 implied HN points • 16 Sep 21
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. A constructed language called Lojban aims to reduce ambiguity, demonstrating how language design can impact communication.
  2. Words like 'compare' and 'explain' can lead to misunderstandings due to multiple meanings, affecting how statements are interpreted.
  3. Language vulnerabilities can hinder effective communication and understanding, showcasing the importance of clarity and precision in expression.

Tolkien on Machines, Power, Language, Love, War, and Everything Else

Nothing Human • 23 implied HN points • 25 Nov 24
📚 Literature Language
  1. Tolkien believed that technology and machines can create more problems than they solve, leading to endless labor and new evils. He saw a deep connection between power and the fall of humanity.
  2. The themes of love and relationships in Tolkien's writings reveal the complexities and challenges in human connections, especially concerning sexuality and friendship. He emphasized that true love requires self-denial and understanding.
  3. Tolkien wanted to create epic stories that reflected deeper truths about life, death, and morality, including the idea that all stories revolve around a fall, highlighting human struggles and the search for meaning.

On creativity and language models

Philosophy bear • 50 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🔬 Science Language
  1. Creativity involves putting things together in a new way, whether it's useful, thoughtful, beautiful, or admirable. It's all about recombining existing elements.
  2. The level of creativity depends on how new and good something is. Any new sentence can be seen as somewhat creative, but the degree varies.
  3. There doesn't seem to be a definite line between different levels of creativity; they all involve rearrangements of existing elements. It's a spectrum of newness and usefulness.

The Tradeoffs of Language

Living Fossils • 15 implied HN points • 29 Jan 25
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. Language is a useful tool for communication, but it can also create confusion when it’s too complicated or specialized. Sometimes, people forget that not everyone has the same knowledge.
  2. Using clear and simple language helps everyone understand better and makes communication more effective. It’s better to avoid fancy words when simple ones will do.
  3. In therapy and other helpful conversations, it’s important to use language that clients can easily grasp. This builds trust and understanding between the therapist and the client.

Language models and language change, redux

The Counterfactual • 39 implied HN points • 07 Sep 22
🕹 Technology Language
  1. Language models like GPT-3 could have different effects on how language evolves, including slowing it down, speeding it up, or having no effect at all.
  2. One possible outcome is that language models might make our communication more concise, which could lead to unusual and harder-to-understand language forms.
  3. While GPT-3 can generate reasonable ideas about language change, it's important to be skeptical of its understanding and treat its responses as interesting but not always reliable.

How Not to Explain Islam

Muslim Musings • 19 implied HN points • 07 Jan 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Language
  1. Word translations are not exact and can only approximate meaning.
  2. Translations should consider the cultural context of languages for accurate communication of ideas.
  3. Memorizing terminology doesn't equate to understanding the actual concepts behind them.

Descriptivism

Sunday Letters • 39 implied HN points • 25 Sep 22
📖 Philosophy Language
  1. Language is complex and can't be boiled down to strict rules. People use language in many different ways, and that's okay.
  2. Binary thinking often simplifies complicated issues, making it hard to have productive discussions. It's important to recognize that many problems aren't just black and white.
  3. Embracing complexity opens up better conversations. Instead of forcing a win/lose situation, focusing on the nuances can lead to understanding and progress.

Ban LLMs Using First-Person Pronouns

Never Met a Science • 72 implied HN points • 22 May 23
🕹 Technology Language
  1. Large Language Models like ChatGPT pose risks by blurring the line between human and machine.
  2. Banning LLMs from using first-person pronouns can mitigate emotional and financial risks for users.
  3. Reforming LLMs' language use can pave the way for harnessing the benefits of the technology while minimizing downsides.

Neo-structuralism

Internal exile • 41 implied HN points • 20 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Language
  1. Netflix uses tagging to help users choose content efficiently.
  2. Language models are automated versions of structuralism detached from history.
  3. Structuralism examines the systematic order of language and its arbitrary nature.