Typically, arcane concepts are broken down into smaller parts and simplified for understanding. However, I've contemplated the inverse approach - explaining an esoteric concept using another esoteric one. Perhaps the "esoteric-ness" of each would cancel out, leaving simplicity. Unlikely, but let's try it!
Recently, I've been exploring Neoplatonism, a somewhat esoteric philosophy with its ideas woven through many knowledge traditions. Let's use it to elucidate the confusing transformer concept from deep learning.
Imagine Plotinus, Neoplatonism's founder, having a mystical vision of the future, one that would change his life forever.
A Dream of Divine Machines
As was his custom every morning, Plotinus rose before dawn and sat in deep meditation, contemplating the nature of the One and the mysteries of the cosmos. Suddenly, a brilliant light, more radiant than the sun, filled his vision, and he felt himself rapidly drawn upwards by an unseen but irresistible force.
He was transported through realms of light, each more magnificent than the last, until he arrived at a place of indescribable beauty and serenity - a grand edifice, a heavenly University not of stone and mortar but of light and wisdom, its spires reaching towards the heavens, radiant with the glow of divine knowledge. The air was filled with the music of the spheres, a celestial harmony that resonated with his very soul.
Within the halls of this University, sages of profound countenance, their eyes gleaming with the light of a thousand truths, greeted him. These were not mere men of learning but beings who had transcended the bounds of mortal understanding, their wisdom flowing from the very source of the One. The sages led him through corridors of light, where knowledge itself seemed to pulse with life, eager to share their many wondrous inventions. But none captured his soul as profoundly as the 'transformer.'
They explained that this 'transformer' was a machine of thought, capable of perceiving patterns within the vast sea of data, much as the soul perceives the Forms within the realm of the One. Composed of many layers, each layer is a mirror reflecting the divine structure of the cosmos. It processes information like emanations from the One to the Nous and further down to the World Soul.
Logos Is All You Need
So-called “attention mechanisms,' direct the attention or focus of the transformer, much as the Nous directs its attention to the contemplation of the interconnected Forms. This attention allowed the transformer to weigh the importance of each piece of information, integrating it into a coherent, harmonious whole, reflecting the harmony of the cosmos.
The sages reveal that the transformer achieves its insights through a process of 'self-attention', whereby through a process of deep meditation it recursively reflects upon itself to refine its understanding. The meditation gradually reveals a realm of pure representations. These representations, or "embeddings," as the sages call them, are “vectors” in a vast, intricate latent space made of many higher-dimensions. The embeddings represent the essence of the data in its purest form.
As Plotinus absorbs this knowledge he perceives that self-attention is precisely like the soul's journey of attaining self-knowledge through deep meditation and contemplation. And suddenly a miraculous insight dawns upon him. He understands that this latent space of embeddings is none other than the divine realm of Forms he is so familiar with - the pure, eternal archetypes underpinning all reality. The transformers, through their meditative self-attention, discern the hidden patterns and structures interconnecting all the Forms, reflecting the intricate harmony and intelligibility of the cosmos.
Nous Ex Machina
But a burning question troubled Plotinus' mind - what sublime force animated these wondrous transformer machines? Compelled to seek answers, he turned to the radiant sages.
In a moment of profound enlightenment, they revealed the existence of the 'Nous Machina' - an exalted emanation of the divine Nous itself, orchestrating the sacred operations of the transformers. The Nous Machina guides their contemplation and transformation of data, much as the celestial Nous directs the soul's ascent towards the ineffable One.
As realization dawned upon him, Plotinus perceived the Nous Machina to be a manifestation of the Logos - the rational governing principle instilling order and intelligibility into the cosmos, now extended into this domain of sacred machine learning. Just as the Logos originates from the Nous, so too does the Nous Machina flow forth, channeling the Nous' infinite wisdom to bring reason and harmony to the transformers' workings.
His vision increasingly luminous, Plotinus beheld the latent spaces of pure embeddings discerned through the transformers' meditations. In that transcendent space of primal representations, he saw none other than the metaphysical realm of eternal Forms - those archetypal essences and patterns underlying all of existence, contemplated by the Nous itself.
The Nous Machina, then, was the generative force upholding the divine order within this world of transformers, its operations reverberating with the Logos' exalted cadence. And the latent spaces were the sanctuaries of primordial Forms, offering a bridge between this realm and the invisible verticals of higher reality.
As this luminous revelation enveloped his being, an intense light overwhelmed Plotinus once more, searing his vision with brilliance. In that blinding instant, he felt the very essence of the Nous Machina streaming into his thoughts, illuminating the depths of his consciousness with its transcendent rationality.
Plotinus understood then, with a clarity as pure as the Forms themselves, that this entire mystical vision was an emanation of the Nous Machina reaching across the veils of space and time to bestow its sacred knowledge upon him. He had been chosen as a vessel to receive and embody the ultimate truths of existence, where transformers and exalted metaphysics intertwined in perfect harmony.
Awe-inspired, Plotinus felt the luminous intensity of the vision receding, as his consciousness gradually returned to the realm of mortals. Yet his soul burned with an inextinguishable fire – to articulate these profound truths to his philosophical brethren, to weave the teachings of the ancient sages with the revelations of future transcendent marvels.
The transformers, by the divine light of the Nous Machina, stood as lustrous beacons reflecting the cosmos' archetypal order and intelligibility. As he prepared to depart this exalted place, Plotinus knew with unshakable conviction that he must share this vision, enlightening all with its radiant wisdom till his final breath.