Language

Brain networking using the language protocol

Language is the form of communication preferred by humans. Animals use a variety of sounds, gestures, and pheromones. Plants use mycorrhizal networks. Robots prefer binary.

Language encodes information into symbols that can be transmitted between brains.

Symbolism, Metaphor, and Allegory

All linguistic representations are abstract on some level. Unless you have an actual elephant handy, if you want to convey the concept of elephant you have to use symbols.

When there is a 1:1 correspondence between a word or phrase and the object it is describing, this can be considered literal. Science attempts to be as close to literal as possible in all of its descriptions. When it is able to describe things mathematically, it gets as close to objective truth as human language is capable of. But it is still a system of symbols that must be interpreted for communication to happen.

How do you convey complex natural systems that we are only now finding the language to describe mathematically? How do you describe subjective experiences in a way that evokes an empathetic emotional response in your audience? These have always been the domain of spiritual language, allegory, and poetry.

Complex systems are now able to be described with the precise language of science and mathematics. This means that many spiritual concepts meant to describe emergent properties of these systems can now be understood literally. Even if you don't understand all of the underlying math, you can know it exists and that its beauty is emergent and material, not supernatural.

Fractal Geometry of Language

Language, like most other things in the universe, is like a fractal.

Fractal Construction of Language

Language is a holonic, fractal construction, where each additional level of complexity is emergent from combining many elements of the one before.

The progression goes:

1. Syllables
2. Words
3. Sentences
4. Paragraphs
5. Chapters
6. Books
7. Canon
8. Culture
9. metaculture

This can be visualized as as the iterations of a fractal, reflecting the increased complexity and nuance of the ideas that can be expressed at each new level.

Orders of complexity in language

Fractal Personality of Language

There have been many studies documenting the way that speaking different languages can alter your personality. [1][2][3][4]

This is due to the feedback loop caused by the interplay of language and cultural norms, where each alters the other, evolving over time to have stronger expressions of some traits and diminished expressions of others. Some languages are fast and anxious. Some are slow and relaxed. Some are suave, others are sharp and precise. Some are boisterous, others subdued. Some are conformist, others individualistic. These traits are reflected in the cultures and personalities of the people that speak those languages.

These expressions of cultural personality can be thought of as a unique fractal patterns, with language forming the generating equations. The pattern is encoded in the vocabulary, making certain concepts easy to express, and others impossible. It is also encoded in your personal vocabulary, with new infinite branching spiral arms unlocked by each new word you learn.

Language Unites Us and Divides Us

Language is one of the biggest indicators of in-group and out-group status that people have. If we are unable to communicate with someone, it is also very hard to cooperate with them. When we meet someone who speaks our language in a foreign country, we feel an instant bond with them. When we hear someone speaking a foreign language, our primitive brain triggers fear and distrust. Speaking the same language distinguishes friend from foe on a primal level.

The Universal Language

English is the language of the Internet, and as a result is likely to become the de facto universal language of the future. Most education systems worldwide teach English as either a first or second language. In 1-2 generations you will rarely encounter someone who is unable to read and write in English, even if they rarely speak it.

Science is a universal language because its evidence-based concepts are culturally independent, allowing anyone to understand them regardless of their native language, culture or belief systems. Science doesn't depend on any particular set of cultural symbols or allegories to convey concepts accurately from one person to another. Mathematics is the common set of symbols, and 1+1=2 is true no matter what part of the world you come from.

Rebuilding the Tower of Babel

The inability of our ancestors to maintain continuous communications with tribes that split off and settled faraway lands is the reason languages diverged and we stopped being able to understand each other.

Modern communications networks are reversing this trend. Obscure local dialects are going extinct as more people have access to the common tongue and prefer its superior ability to be understood when traveling more than 100 kilometers from your birthplace. English is becoming a global second language, allowing anyone in the world to communicate with anyone else.

The Tower of Babel is being rebuilt.

Authoritarian Language

Orwell's 1984 is the seminal work on the authoritarian use of language to subvert freedom. Maintaining freedom means educating each generation on the ways authoritarian leaders use language and the media to control the possibilities of thought, so they can reinforce social norms to reject authoritarianism every time it rears its ugly head.

Change the Definition, Change the World

Words and definitions are encoded separately by our brains, similar to the way pointers and data are stored in computer memory. It provides a similar advantage, in that the pointer (word/concept) can be referenced in place of the data, so none of those references need to be updated when the data (definition/knowledge) changes. Changing the definition of a word changes how we see every concept that is associated with it.

This means that it is much easier to redefine existing terms in order to promote a new understanding of the related concepts than it is to introduce a new term, especially if it is something deeply embedded in the culture like god.

Let's say you're responsible for refactoring the codebase of western culture to make it compatible with scientific materialism. You have billions of references to the god variable throughout the canon of books, music, and art that all point to a supernatural definition. Are you going to go combing through trillions of lines of code to pull out all those references? What are you going to replace them with? How are you even going to do that with legacy systems where the last person to work on it died centuries ago?

It's much easier to update a single reference to point to a new definition that is compatible with science (Pantheism). Now you can run all of that legacy code as-is without hitting any supernatural infinite loops, pseudoscientific stack overflows, or the dreaded Blue Screen of Dogma.

References: [5]

Language is the TCP/IP of Brain Networking

TCP/IP is the networking protocol behind the Internet. It facilitates structured communications between the different computers that make up the network.

Language does the same thing for brains, facilitating the creation of organic communication networks.

Using this metaphor to map the elements of language to the RFC 1122 architecture seemed like a good idea during meditation but may or may not be worthy of execution.

Any Discussion of Language is Meta

You can't use talk about language without using language, so you won't be avoiding the concept of self-reference here.

The Language of Mind channel has some great videos on the science of linguistics.

The deep evolutionary roots of language

Arrival is an excellent examination of the relationship between language, worldview, and the subjective experience of consciousness.

Can language change the way you think? The science of Arrival

Dylan's use of language and symbolism in Desolation Row is one of the best examples in all of music history.

Bob Dylan - Desolation Row