| Lately I’ve been thinking a
great deal about how people communicate. There’s no real way to
know but humans probably used gestures a long time before
vocalization began, possibly a million years. Language is regarded
as the key indicator of our superiority over other life forms. It
is the bedrock of modern civilization. The grand achievement that
sets us apart, gives us the voice to identify and proclaim
ourselves. As much as language has propelled us as a species, it
is still an imperfect vehicle. It can be misinterpreted,
misunderstood, keyed with duplicity, and corrupted by ignorance
and malice. The history of mankind is stagnant (wars, religion,
regionalism, poverty) and will remain so as long as we continue to
rely on language as our primary means of communication. I can’t
accept that we can’t do better than language as we understand it.
Anybody out there working on an alternative system? Does anyone
have a fresh perspective on this issue?
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