AI learned language backwards and we need a new humanitie...

What this episode covers

ABOUT THE EPISODELeif Weatherby is an associate professor of German at New York University, founding director of the Digital Theory Lab and Director of Digital Humanities. His research spans dialectics, semiotics, the nature of data and computing, and problems of political economy after the Industrial Revolution. He's also written several books, the latest of which is Language Machines: Cultural AI and the End of Remainder Humanism, and is currently working on two other book projects: Artificial Concepts: How Cybernetics Encountered German Idealism and The Mismeasure of Mind: Against the Prediction of Everything. ABOUT SECOND ORDERSSecond Orders is a series of conversations with thinkers, tinkerers and theorists about pivotal changes in science, technology, law and culture, their unintended consequences and what they reveal about how we live and cooperate at every scale.Website: secondorders.coBecome a guest or suggest a topic: secondorders.co/helloChapters:00:00 Why LLMs got language before they got reasoning07:40 Saussure and the poetic function inside attention13:13 The four-horned unicorn: meaning from the top down15:42 What if grammar is easier than meaning?23:05 Steelmanning the AI skeptic32:58 Chess, Go and the boards we play language on36:47 Why language feels like the special human thing44:48 Do we need a new humanities to study AI language?58:16 How will AI change the way we use language?01:01:15 Language-as-a-service01:02:23 Can AI free us to interact more authentically again?01:10:06 LLMs as ideology machines01:23:14 Schismogenesis and the refusal of AI vocabulary01:29:10 Remainder humanism & taste01:37:51 What about the future excites you?

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How long is this episode of Second Orders?

This episode is 1 hour and 40 minutes long.

When was this Second Orders episode published?

This episode was published on April 27, 2026.

What is this episode about?

ABOUT THE EPISODELeif Weatherby is an associate professor of German at New York University, founding director of the Digital Theory Lab and Director of Digital Humanities. His research spans dialectics, semiotics, the nature of data and computing,...

Is there a transcript available for this episode?

Yes, a full transcript is available for this episode. You can read the complete transcript on the episode page.

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