We humans live in a world we are ill-equipped for. We are “tooled” in terms of evolution for the Stone Age, but the modern environment we live in is more complex than a cave. Few examples - We crave sugar, salt, and fat because it was hard to obtain. We have cognitive biases that are survival-optimized to a danger-rich environment. We prefer spending as little energy as possible since finding more meant risk. Our language is one of these prehistoric tools - geared for transferring simple ideas from one human to another - in a time when the ideas formed in neighboring brains were similar in scope and shape. Today’s world makes these prehistoric tools not only ill-fitting but also taxing on the individual, group, and society in general. If we take the previous examples - Cravings cause health hazards in a society of abundance and economic gain from the manipulation of these cravings (i.e., by many companies in the food industry). People make poor financial and other statistically-based decisions (which are also being exploited by some profit-seeking organizations). People are bad at choosing what to spend time on and about physical activities (and too - are being exploited by entertainment - including social, gaming, news - and similar industries). Language is no different. We pay in efficiency - spend vast quantities of time on transferring ideas. We pay in results - intentions miscommunicated cause personal and sometimes national harm. We are manipulated by others - to buy, to conform, to support, to believe. We use “hacks” to work around some language limitations - adding analogies and metaphors to compress ideas, using non-verbal communication (gestures, visuals, sounds). But they are not perfect in results and have diminishing returns on the time spent conjuring them. This requires a solution. When one is found - its fruits will impact everything. It will transform what and how we do and who we are as a species. The research towards it must discuss the problem, the solution’s impact - humanistic and economic, draw inspiration from existing and historical types of communication, linguistics, look into arts, slang, humor, machine, technology and intelligence, brain operations, animal communication, non-animate data transfer (genes, atoms, particles), cultures and more. What it is not is researching communication channels. It is about content - data that is being transferred. It is also not research into finding a new “language” or improving on existing ones. This has been attempted and failed many times in the past 200 years (as an example - Ithkuil is a sort of “solution” using current tools). Ithkuil We do not need “a faster horse.” We need a Transporter Room.

The is an opinion piece based on the author’s POV and does not necessarily reflect the views of HackerNoon.

Not Knowing: The Secret, Coveted Art 

C | B

Substack

Here's Why Language Is Outdated

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Untitled Story

AI Knows Everything Except Why You’re Sad

10 Things to Do in a Professional Email Signature (With Examples)

10 PR Tips I Use Daily at My Marketing Agency

10 Commandments for AI-Assisted Social Media Marketers

11 Zoom Apps to Make Meetings More Efficient

AI Knows Everything Except Why You’re Sad

10 Things to Do in a Professional Email Signature (With Examples)

10 PR Tips I Use Daily at My Marketing Agency

10 Commandments for AI-Assisted Social Media Marketers

11 Zoom Apps to Make Meetings More Efficient

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps