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Discussion on: Explain Abstractions like I'm five

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Isaac Lyman

Yes! Abstractions on top of abstractions. Turtles all the way down. "Salt" in this case is sodium chloride, which is a molecule, and a molecule is a collection of atoms, and an atom is a collection of quarks, which are the binary code of the universe. And we don't even have to know that in order to recognize and use salt, because our senses have interpreted and abstracted it for us.

Human language itself is an abstraction. The word "salt" doesn't look or sound like actual salt. Yet we're able to use it as a signifier without confusion. Abstraction really is the basis of intelligence.