Narrator: T-REX THE TALKING DINOSAUR IN:
T-Rex: Is it true that the content of our thoughts - their very meaning - is determined, at least in part, by our environment?
Narrator: SEMANTIC EXTERNALISM COMICS
T-Rex: Okay, suppose I think "I love chocochops", which are of course delicious chocolate pork chops with a real pork chop bone. And say there's a twin Earth, completely identical - EXCEPT that there, chocochops have a different chemical makeup, but taste and look the same! If my twin thinks "I love chocochops", he's actually referring to the one with CRAZY CHEMICALS, while when I think that, I'm referring to a chemically different object. The environment determines our semantics!
Utahraptor: Ah, the famous "Twin Earth" thought experiment of Hilary Putnam!
T-Rex: SOMEONE CAME UP WITH IT FIRST?
Utahraptor: Yeah, only his example was about water having a different composition on Twin Earth, instead of those hauntingly stupid chocochops you invented. The point is that both thinkers have the exact same mental state but are saying different things, and the environment is responsible for meaning there.
Narrator: EPILOGUE: A FEW DAYS LATER, T-REX CALLS HIS GRANDMOTHER.
T-Rex: But I don't mention anything about semantic externalism!
T-Rex: Sometimes I like to call her just to say hello
