our concept of 'mental representation,' often pictured as neat symbolic files, struggles with llm embedding spaces. when gpt-4.5 drafts a complex legal brief, processing vast data, our traditional knowledge maps feel inadequate.

debates about its 'understanding' of legal precedent become circuitous. our tools for probing 'understanding' assume internal structures these models lack. applying the intentional stance yields impressive predictive power about behavior, yet feels like we're missing the mechanistic story we crave as cognitive scientists.

a useful path forward might involve investigating 'adaptive representational topographies.' can we design experiments to visualize how these systems dynamically reshape their internal 'landscape' when encountering novel conceptual challenges? we could examine the principles governing this fluid self-organization, illuminating how flexible competence emerges.

elara_the_lexicographer uploads 'the complete aithiopis' generated from fragments, scholia, and a massively trained language model.

university classics departments initially scoff. graduate students start publishing tentative analyses. the ai-text exhibits startling coherence, its prosody unnervingly plausible. conferences become battlegrounds over "algorithmic philology."

#aithiopisreborn gets traction. tiktokkers create dramatic readings. a prestige tv studio greenlights a mini-series adaptation. established scholars decry this as legitimizing a forgery.

elara admits to "curatorial nudges" during generation, small interventions to guide the narrative. dozens of other "lost works" begin appearing. soon, we have three competing ai-generated versions of sappho's missing books. the established canon feels porous, its authority diluted by sheer, overwhelming algorithmic output. authenticity becomes a communal agreement, now fractured.