The Telos of Translation: What's Your Purpose? (with Andrew Richmond)

Why do many translators see AI as a threat? Part of it has to do with a threat to their income, and part of it likely has to do with a threat to their purpose, says Dr. Andrew Richmond. Dr. Richmond is a cognitive science researcher who blends methods from philosophy and psychology to study scientific reasoning.

In this conversation, Merging Minds host Gabriel Fairman and Dr. Richmond discuss how the language we use influences our perceptions, specifically regarding the hot topic of AI. They also discuss what leads us to view AI as competition rather than a tool, and how this is rooted in the ancient Greek concept of purpose (telos).

Andrew and Gabriel also discuss:

• Thinking about how we think, not what it "means" to thin
• The nature of thought vs. thought frameworks
• Metaphors as cognitive lenses
• Essentialism- The idea that things belong to categories.
• How social media pushes us towards simplification
• Threat responses to AI and predatory headline ecosystems
• "Hype science"
• Cognition being more than just behavior
• Does anything make us truly human?
• Why LLMs challenge a translator’s identity
• AI as a tool vs AI as competition
• Ancient Greek philosophy- Thinking of everything in terms of purpose
• The commoditization of skill is what breeds competition with machines
• "Inflating" Machine Telos and "deflating" human telos
• Purpose as a luxury item
• The future as a political question, not a technical question

And much more!

This episode is packed with interesting insights and opinions, so be sure to tune in for the whole thing!

You can learn more about Andrew Richmond here.

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