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May 17, 2026Open Access

Physical Universality vs Cultural Contingency Why Geometric Semantic Architectures Work for Physical Dimensions and Fail for Human Conceptual Categories and What Would Need to Be True for That to Change

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Authors

TBTiffney Bare

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Overview

Uncovers why geometric architectures succeed with physical dimensions but fail with human concepts, indicating a need for improved frameworks.

Key Points

  • The aim is to explore why geometric semantic architectures effectively model physical dimensions while struggling with human conceptual categories.
  • Evaluated geometric semantic architectures utilizing distributional word embeddings.
  • Analyzed the reliability of these models on both physical and abstract semantic dimensions.
  • Distinguished between physically forced universals and culturally contingent constructs.
  • Geometric architectures performed reliably with physical dimensions like temperature and speed.
  • Failures were noted with abstract concepts such as moral evaluation and social belonging due to their culturally contingent nature.
  • The distinction between forced universals and contingent constructs is crucial for understanding the limitations of current models.

Cite This Study

Tiffney Bare (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a095c147880e6d24efe2121https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20214549
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Also Consider

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  1. 1The Experiential–Factual Divide: A Universal Geometric Property of Human Language, AI Models, and Brain Organisation2026
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  3. 3Semantic Phase Transitions in Observation Geometries2025 · 10 citations
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  5. 5Invariant Representations in Abstract Concept Grounding - The Physical World in Grounded Cognition2024 · 1 citations