> I think the reason I would say the night sky is “beautiful” is because the meaning of the word for me is constructed from the experiences I’ve had in which I’ve heard other people use the word.

Ok but you don’t look at every night sky or every sunset and say “wow that’s beautiful”

There’s a quality to it - not because you heard someone say it but because you experience it

> Ok but you don’t look at every night sky or every sunset and say “wow that’s beautiful

Exactly - because it's a semantic shorthand. Sunsets are fucking boring, ugly, transient phenomena. Watching a sunset while feeling safe and relaxed, maybe in a company of your love interest who's just as high on endorphins as you are right now - this is what feels beautiful. This is a sunset that's beautiful. But the sunset is just a pointer to the experience, something others can relate to, not actually the source of it.

Because words are much lower bandwidth than speech. But if you were “told” about a sunset by means of a Matrix style direct mind uploading of an experience, it would seem just as real and vivid. That’s a quantitative difference in bandwidth, not a qualitative difference in character.

my thought exactly