We think in something Steven Pinker termed “mentalese”. It is distinct from human language. There are many examples of people who are cognitively normal, but either lack or have severely impaired language for various reasons.
The distinction between reason and language is not widely appreciated, and is a main if not the primary reason people overestimate the abilities of LLMs.
This really reminds me of the recent “Hellen Keller on life before self-consciousness” and the discussion about people who were born deaf and how their thinking changed after learning sign language.
Sure, like most areas involving intelligence, much work is yet to be done. However, mentalese or the Language of Thought Hypothesis, occupies a much stronger position than the hypothesis that human language itself is our fundamental engine of reason, which is almost assuredly not true. This last fact has serious implications for the valuations of the majority of AI companies.
The distinction between reason and language is not widely appreciated, and is a main if not the primary reason people overestimate the abilities of LLMs.