20 JAN 2026

Day 20

You shall know a word by the company it keeps.

J. R. Firth · Papers in Linguistics

A small rectangular fragment of linen fabric with tapestry-woven wool decoration showing stylised figures or geometric motifs in faded reds, greens, and yellows against a plain ground.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Coptic Textile Fragment

Coptic Egyptian · Egypt · Late Antiquity

A scrap of linen from a Coptic tunic or hanging, woven with figures that mix Christian saints, Greek gods, and pharaonic symbols — all sharing the same cloth because Egypt's past never quite disappeared.

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II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Embeddings: Meaning as Direction

Language and tokens · 18 of 100 · Tokenisation

A token ID is just an arbitrary integer. Its embedding is a list of hundreds of numbers that position the word in a space where nearness means something—and that geometry is learned, not designed.

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Elaborately carved sandstone gateway with two pillars supporting three stacked horizontal beams that extend outward on both sides, covered in relief sculptures of figures, animals and narrative scenes.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

The Gateways of the Great Stupa at Sanchi

Sanchi Town, Madhya Pradesh · 1st century BCE · Carved sandstone

The Buddha is nowhere in the carvings — only his footprints, an empty throne, a tree. The choice to leave him absent was deliberate, and it held for centuries.

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