I'm glad you mentioned that, because I forgot to note it. That is definitely one of the stand-out aspects of the film. I lied the idea that language changes the brain. I noticed a long time ago that I had distinct personalities depending on which language I was using. Music does the same thing, and Johansson's score is the perfect compliment to the central theme of the story.
My second language is French. Years ago, my sister-in-law noted that I was far more extraverted in French than in English (I am extremely introverted), no doubt because I had to deal with plumbers, electricians, contractors, masons, etc. when dealing with my property in French Canada. So yes, language does change the brain even unto modifying the personality.
Yes, exactly! Tonal inflections, facial expressions, body gestures, even mental visualizations all change with the language I am using. I really admire simultaneous translators. I can't do that. I can only think in one language at a time. I can shift easily enough, but not two simultaneously. It's like shutting down and rebooting in a different operating system. Really nerdy and fun stuff -- to me anyway.
A fun read, no plot, no war, a great subterfuge that makes me more aware of my ignorance. My mother always wanted us to learn Latin but public schools didn’t offer it and our family couldn’t afford the tuition for Catholic school.
This is where AI is an amazing tool. You can actually teach yourself a new language and have a speaking partner for practice right in the comfort of your own home, and it's free. Don't think about how long it will take, think about how much fun it will be doing it. Leaning a second language opens a whole new world to you that you never imagined existed.
In Texas, I had Spanish classes three times a week all through grade school. In high school, my father forced me to study Latin. In university, I went with German, since I figured I had the Romance languages covered. From travel, I picked up various levels of a half-dozen more. The more you learn, the easier it gets, and the bigger and more colorful the world gets.
Russian intimidates me because of the alphabet. I can read the letters that are similar to Greek, but some of them are--so far--beyond my ken. I have a similar problem with Mandarin. The grammar is surprisingly easy, but speaking/writing/reading it is a whole 'nuther thing.
I remember Paul Johnson, in his History of Art, mentioning that the cave art discoveries indicate that the capacity developed at more or less the same time in a number of areas around the world. This was after a million years or so of the hand axe, basically a rock with a point, being the only cultural advancement. Anywhere. Period. (Doing this from memory, so I hope I'm not confabulating.)
Just like some of the things you point out here, this suggests a kind of download, the opposite of the bottom-up development hypothesized in Darwinesque "evolution." Many of the conundrums of reality resolve, in fact, when you consider the universe as having been created top-down rather than bottom-up.
Coincidentally, or not, this mirrors a cognitive distinction between verbal, detail oriented (mostly left hemisphere), bottom-up processing and non-verbal, wholistic, integrative (mostly right-hemisphere), top-down processing.
I am researching Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance theory for a future article. Basically, the Universe (us and everything) is information, and once new information is created, it is available to all parts of the Universe. This dovetails with the theory of Simultaneous Invention, where the same idea/invention/discovery occurs at the same time in different places with no communication between them. It blows the Aristotelian/Darwinian/Materialists out of the water, and it's been suppressed because it scares the hell out of academia.
There is no doubt in my mind that we are all parts of a Universal Whole, and once created, we can never disappear. Rather comforting thought.
Indeed. Beyond comforting! As an aside, David Warren (Essays in Idleness; visit it please because he labors in obscurity and often has pithy insights, sometimes quite amusing.) Anyway, David once wrote a column in which he demonstrated that there was more evidence supporting the miracles of Lourdes than the Darwinian hypothesis. As another aside, it was a major leap for me when I came to grips with the obvious fact that Darwinism, the prism through which I had previously viewed most of reality, was, to be kind, a quaint nineteenth century notion.
Darwinism is valuable insofar as it explains differences between finches on various Galapagos islands. However, it falls completely to pieces to explain how dogs and cats share a common ancestor, or mammals and plants eventually join as a single organism. Basically, the theory is a magic wand to wave away huge gaps in understanding of natural processes. It is no more useful than the old spontaneous generation theory where goose barnacles spontaneously transformed into geese. Just investigating the enormous variety in eyes among species quickly gets way out of the realm of Darwin.
My problem is choosing which one to wrap a story around. There are so many like "door" in English with great stories to tell. English has a lexicon of a million words, so this could go on forever.
Interesting thought. I lose a lot of subscribers because my articles are all over the place. I'm not a one-trick pony. If I had a consistent topic calendar, it would let readers anticipate their favorite topics, and it would make it much easier on me figuring out what to write twice a week. I'll have to ponder that. In any case, one word a month is very doable.
I agree. I get bored reading/writing about the same old thing day in and day out. Besides, I may learn something today that changes my entire point of view, and I like to be flexible in that way. Thanks for being a regular. I always enjoy your input.
RFS proves the adage - Curiosity cured the cat and inspired the Genius. One anecdote to add fuel to your fire: The Basques have a fourth language that is apparently 'rootless' and also exhibits the highest ratio of RH- blood, a blood type that is acknowledged to be unsourced, that is unique and unable to be derived from a natural source. By the bye, what do you do in your 'spare time'?
And my cats complained loudly as I wrote that I was ignoring their food bowl.
Basque is a fascinating culture/language/people, and one that could easily fill it's own column. I spent a few days travelling through the region many moons ago, and I was intrigued by the language. Some, like Joseph Farrell, speculate that it may be a vestige of the Atlantean language(s). One of these days I'll do a deep dive on it. The YouTube channel NativLang did a very good video on the language some time ago.
As for my "free" time? Well, I'm working on 2 streaming series that I want to sell, I've designed 2 theatres that i want to build, I'm working on a series of 3 mystery novels, I'm trying to raise money for my former abbot, I occasionally pick up corporate training gigs, and I have several private students. In between, I do an inordinate amount of reading and research to bring the most entertaining and informative articles to my readers as I am able. Whenever possible, I slide a high-quality beverage in between, or come up with some ridiculously complex meal that I want to cook.
Since I don't have a "job," some might say I'm retired, but I prefer to think of it as self-directed labor-like activities.
I knew you were a man of high standards and good taste from the first. I actually made a pilgrimage to Bunn na h-Abhainne some 40 years ago. I've been very very picky about whiskey ever since. I've found a couple of Japanese whiskeys in that are in class, though. If you have the opportunity to dive into Yamazaki 18, take it.
Atlantean and deep dive appear in back-to-back sentences. I believe it's been said that the pun is the lowest form of humor, but they can sometimes be quite elegant.
My most recent linguistic adventure involved a phone call to citibank about a credit card issue. I know the young lady was trying her best, but I was unable to comprehend a single word she said. Now I admit that my old ears struggle most of the time. but I would think a phone call originating from the US would be answered by someone with passable english despite the persons accent.
As for the Sumer civilization, I've become a fan of Zachariah Sitchin, and his theories of the periodic return of the Anannuki. Sumer, is far older than we are led to believe hence there were no other civilizations traveling the trade routes when Sumer was there. All civilization on this planet descends from the Anannuki (refered to as Gods in the bible and other religious texts) biologic experiments with the proto humanoids in existence during their first visit. I suspect that their dissatisfaction with earlier experiments have resulted in numerous do-overs, the most recent we refer to as the garden of Eden. The time period between returns is about 3500 years, so another fly by is due. I suspect that the won't be very happy with the results of their current experiment also.
Just some food for thought while trying to cool off from a morning out in the garden (mine, not Edens)
Citibank should hire my students. With my theatrical voice training and ecyclopaedic knowledge of English, my students speak better English than most Americans.
I'm with you on the ancient civilizations front. I am convinced that we are only the latest in a long line of highly developed civilizations stretching back millions of years. I am not fully convinced that we are the product of alien manipulation of Earth's flora and fauna. Rather, I believe we are a lab experiment gone awry by a related but terrestrial species--much the way we monkey with ape DNA and training.
Instead of aliens, we are dealing with cousins--at least two multi-planetary species born and bred right here in the Sol system. The key is finding out what happened to Planet V, between Mars and Jupiter. I'm open to alien origins, but I'm thinking the theory with the fewest number of variables is the likely answer. The Sol system is estimated at 4 billion years old, give or take a cheeseburger. Plenty of time for many civilizations to rise and fall long before us.
For sure there is much more to all this than meets the eye. Just finished Whitley Strieber's book Breakthrough. My favorite little bookie had it come into the store with a bunch of used books, and thought it would be a good read for me. Not sure if I ever read his book Communion, or was just aware of it, but I found his ideas concerning "contact" interesting. Essentially, the "visitors" are always here, and their goal is to broaden humanities awareness of the world around us by developing abilities that reach far beyond what little awareness our basic 5 senses permit. In other words a much expanded reality. Apparently most of this contact is low keyed, and intentionally keeping the government out of the loop. I find all of this stuff fascinating, and as I have mentioned before, I follow a philosophy of "believe nothing, consider everything. Food for thought anyway.
I haven't read "Breakthrough," but I generally enjoy Strieber's work and occasionally listen to his podcasts. He's got something to say that is worth listening to. I like your personal philosophy, and I share it. Mine is a bit more cynical: because I'm listening doesn't imply I care. :)
An upcoming piece will show that we don't need aliens to broaden our minds. Once any information is created in the Universe, it becomes immediately available everywhere to everyone. The trick is to listen for it.
Texian is one of my favorite languages, of course. One of the most curious aspects is the verb "fixin' to". The late great Leon Hale speculated that it came from the early days of the Republic, when for all practical purposes, there was no economy. In order to anything, you had to repair something else, since you couldn't buy a new one.
The language itself blends Spanish, French, German, Scot-Irish, and Czech, with Caddo, Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Tonkawa, Karankawa, and other Indigenous languages in place names. Once upon a time, I could tell where someone was born/raised by their accent and vocabulary. Those days are vanishing quickly.
Arrival is accompanied by a stellar score by Jóhann Jóhannsson, sadly deceased. His musical interpretation of the alien linguistics is unforgettable.
I'm glad you mentioned that, because I forgot to note it. That is definitely one of the stand-out aspects of the film. I lied the idea that language changes the brain. I noticed a long time ago that I had distinct personalities depending on which language I was using. Music does the same thing, and Johansson's score is the perfect compliment to the central theme of the story.
My second language is French. Years ago, my sister-in-law noted that I was far more extraverted in French than in English (I am extremely introverted), no doubt because I had to deal with plumbers, electricians, contractors, masons, etc. when dealing with my property in French Canada. So yes, language does change the brain even unto modifying the personality.
Yes, exactly! Tonal inflections, facial expressions, body gestures, even mental visualizations all change with the language I am using. I really admire simultaneous translators. I can't do that. I can only think in one language at a time. I can shift easily enough, but not two simultaneously. It's like shutting down and rebooting in a different operating system. Really nerdy and fun stuff -- to me anyway.
Me, too.👍👍😎
Yes, I was definitely a different person in Germany. It was noted when I returned to the US, too. I hadn't thought about that for decades!
I don't think I've ever seen a study on this phenomenon. It would make an interesting doctoral thesis if I ever get motivated to go that route.
Reminds me of a joke:
The man who speaks many languages is a polyglot.
The man who speaks two languages is bilingual.
The man who speaks only one is British.
I would sub "American" for "British".
Or, let's do BOTH.
That settles it!
Go full slur and say Limey and Yank.
A fun read, no plot, no war, a great subterfuge that makes me more aware of my ignorance. My mother always wanted us to learn Latin but public schools didn’t offer it and our family couldn’t afford the tuition for Catholic school.
This is where AI is an amazing tool. You can actually teach yourself a new language and have a speaking partner for practice right in the comfort of your own home, and it's free. Don't think about how long it will take, think about how much fun it will be doing it. Leaning a second language opens a whole new world to you that you never imagined existed.
In Texas, I had Spanish classes three times a week all through grade school. In high school, my father forced me to study Latin. In university, I went with German, since I figured I had the Romance languages covered. From travel, I picked up various levels of a half-dozen more. The more you learn, the easier it gets, and the bigger and more colorful the world gets.
wow...I could actually pick up Russian again...🤔
Russian intimidates me because of the alphabet. I can read the letters that are similar to Greek, but some of them are--so far--beyond my ken. I have a similar problem with Mandarin. The grammar is surprisingly easy, but speaking/writing/reading it is a whole 'nuther thing.
My goal would be to stimulate those "leetle grey cells", as M. Hercule Poirot loves to say.
I will let you know if I actually DO it. 😂
курица
Just doo eet, as Poirot might have said.
Absolutely loved this piece.
It gives me great pleasure to hear that, and my profound thanks for the coffee, kind sir. Much appreciated!
I remember Paul Johnson, in his History of Art, mentioning that the cave art discoveries indicate that the capacity developed at more or less the same time in a number of areas around the world. This was after a million years or so of the hand axe, basically a rock with a point, being the only cultural advancement. Anywhere. Period. (Doing this from memory, so I hope I'm not confabulating.)
Just like some of the things you point out here, this suggests a kind of download, the opposite of the bottom-up development hypothesized in Darwinesque "evolution." Many of the conundrums of reality resolve, in fact, when you consider the universe as having been created top-down rather than bottom-up.
Coincidentally, or not, this mirrors a cognitive distinction between verbal, detail oriented (mostly left hemisphere), bottom-up processing and non-verbal, wholistic, integrative (mostly right-hemisphere), top-down processing.
I am researching Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance theory for a future article. Basically, the Universe (us and everything) is information, and once new information is created, it is available to all parts of the Universe. This dovetails with the theory of Simultaneous Invention, where the same idea/invention/discovery occurs at the same time in different places with no communication between them. It blows the Aristotelian/Darwinian/Materialists out of the water, and it's been suppressed because it scares the hell out of academia.
There is no doubt in my mind that we are all parts of a Universal Whole, and once created, we can never disappear. Rather comforting thought.
Indeed. Beyond comforting! As an aside, David Warren (Essays in Idleness; visit it please because he labors in obscurity and often has pithy insights, sometimes quite amusing.) Anyway, David once wrote a column in which he demonstrated that there was more evidence supporting the miracles of Lourdes than the Darwinian hypothesis. As another aside, it was a major leap for me when I came to grips with the obvious fact that Darwinism, the prism through which I had previously viewed most of reality, was, to be kind, a quaint nineteenth century notion.
Darwinism is valuable insofar as it explains differences between finches on various Galapagos islands. However, it falls completely to pieces to explain how dogs and cats share a common ancestor, or mammals and plants eventually join as a single organism. Basically, the theory is a magic wand to wave away huge gaps in understanding of natural processes. It is no more useful than the old spontaneous generation theory where goose barnacles spontaneously transformed into geese. Just investigating the enormous variety in eyes among species quickly gets way out of the realm of Darwin.
Another brick in the wall!
Indeed. Probably even the keystone.
You've added and clarified a core aspect of panpsychism; as above, so
below. You may find my comments of interest as well.
Another piece of the puzzle that is consciousness.
Outstanding piece, mate! I love how you took something as mundane as "door" ans turned it into an adventure. "Arrival" is a great flick, too.
You obviously have great taste and are far more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. Here's to seeing your face in the bottom of my glass!
And this is only ONE word.
🤥🤔
My problem is choosing which one to wrap a story around. There are so many like "door" in English with great stories to tell. English has a lexicon of a million words, so this could go on forever.
How about choosing one word each month?
Interesting thought. I lose a lot of subscribers because my articles are all over the place. I'm not a one-trick pony. If I had a consistent topic calendar, it would let readers anticipate their favorite topics, and it would make it much easier on me figuring out what to write twice a week. I'll have to ponder that. In any case, one word a month is very doable.
Well...personally, I like that "eclectic" bent. I may not always comment, but I always read.
One-trick ponies are BORING. Plenty of them out there.
I agree. I get bored reading/writing about the same old thing day in and day out. Besides, I may learn something today that changes my entire point of view, and I like to be flexible in that way. Thanks for being a regular. I always enjoy your input.
RFS proves the adage - Curiosity cured the cat and inspired the Genius. One anecdote to add fuel to your fire: The Basques have a fourth language that is apparently 'rootless' and also exhibits the highest ratio of RH- blood, a blood type that is acknowledged to be unsourced, that is unique and unable to be derived from a natural source. By the bye, what do you do in your 'spare time'?
And my cats complained loudly as I wrote that I was ignoring their food bowl.
Basque is a fascinating culture/language/people, and one that could easily fill it's own column. I spent a few days travelling through the region many moons ago, and I was intrigued by the language. Some, like Joseph Farrell, speculate that it may be a vestige of the Atlantean language(s). One of these days I'll do a deep dive on it. The YouTube channel NativLang did a very good video on the language some time ago.
As for my "free" time? Well, I'm working on 2 streaming series that I want to sell, I've designed 2 theatres that i want to build, I'm working on a series of 3 mystery novels, I'm trying to raise money for my former abbot, I occasionally pick up corporate training gigs, and I have several private students. In between, I do an inordinate amount of reading and research to bring the most entertaining and informative articles to my readers as I am able. Whenever possible, I slide a high-quality beverage in between, or come up with some ridiculously complex meal that I want to cook.
Since I don't have a "job," some might say I'm retired, but I prefer to think of it as self-directed labor-like activities.
Da Venci is in awe; I can second, however, the ‘high quality beverage’ which for me, is the very fine Bunnahabhain.
I knew you were a man of high standards and good taste from the first. I actually made a pilgrimage to Bunn na h-Abhainne some 40 years ago. I've been very very picky about whiskey ever since. I've found a couple of Japanese whiskeys in that are in class, though. If you have the opportunity to dive into Yamazaki 18, take it.
High Quality Whisky just jumped a notch or two; when Silver breaks from its shackles I’ll be at the store - fine recommendation.
When silver breaks out, I'm heading straight for Macallen's 25. I deserve it for hauling all these coins around for decades.
Birds of a Feather!
Atlantean and deep dive appear in back-to-back sentences. I believe it's been said that the pun is the lowest form of humor, but they can sometimes be quite elegant.
Puns are the highest form of wit — because they always make a point twice.
My most recent linguistic adventure involved a phone call to citibank about a credit card issue. I know the young lady was trying her best, but I was unable to comprehend a single word she said. Now I admit that my old ears struggle most of the time. but I would think a phone call originating from the US would be answered by someone with passable english despite the persons accent.
As for the Sumer civilization, I've become a fan of Zachariah Sitchin, and his theories of the periodic return of the Anannuki. Sumer, is far older than we are led to believe hence there were no other civilizations traveling the trade routes when Sumer was there. All civilization on this planet descends from the Anannuki (refered to as Gods in the bible and other religious texts) biologic experiments with the proto humanoids in existence during their first visit. I suspect that their dissatisfaction with earlier experiments have resulted in numerous do-overs, the most recent we refer to as the garden of Eden. The time period between returns is about 3500 years, so another fly by is due. I suspect that the won't be very happy with the results of their current experiment also.
Just some food for thought while trying to cool off from a morning out in the garden (mine, not Edens)
Citibank should hire my students. With my theatrical voice training and ecyclopaedic knowledge of English, my students speak better English than most Americans.
I'm with you on the ancient civilizations front. I am convinced that we are only the latest in a long line of highly developed civilizations stretching back millions of years. I am not fully convinced that we are the product of alien manipulation of Earth's flora and fauna. Rather, I believe we are a lab experiment gone awry by a related but terrestrial species--much the way we monkey with ape DNA and training.
Instead of aliens, we are dealing with cousins--at least two multi-planetary species born and bred right here in the Sol system. The key is finding out what happened to Planet V, between Mars and Jupiter. I'm open to alien origins, but I'm thinking the theory with the fewest number of variables is the likely answer. The Sol system is estimated at 4 billion years old, give or take a cheeseburger. Plenty of time for many civilizations to rise and fall long before us.
For sure there is much more to all this than meets the eye. Just finished Whitley Strieber's book Breakthrough. My favorite little bookie had it come into the store with a bunch of used books, and thought it would be a good read for me. Not sure if I ever read his book Communion, or was just aware of it, but I found his ideas concerning "contact" interesting. Essentially, the "visitors" are always here, and their goal is to broaden humanities awareness of the world around us by developing abilities that reach far beyond what little awareness our basic 5 senses permit. In other words a much expanded reality. Apparently most of this contact is low keyed, and intentionally keeping the government out of the loop. I find all of this stuff fascinating, and as I have mentioned before, I follow a philosophy of "believe nothing, consider everything. Food for thought anyway.
I haven't read "Breakthrough," but I generally enjoy Strieber's work and occasionally listen to his podcasts. He's got something to say that is worth listening to. I like your personal philosophy, and I share it. Mine is a bit more cynical: because I'm listening doesn't imply I care. :)
An upcoming piece will show that we don't need aliens to broaden our minds. Once any information is created in the Universe, it becomes immediately available everywhere to everyone. The trick is to listen for it.
Where do you put Texan language?
Texian is one of my favorite languages, of course. One of the most curious aspects is the verb "fixin' to". The late great Leon Hale speculated that it came from the early days of the Republic, when for all practical purposes, there was no economy. In order to anything, you had to repair something else, since you couldn't buy a new one.
The language itself blends Spanish, French, German, Scot-Irish, and Czech, with Caddo, Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Tonkawa, Karankawa, and other Indigenous languages in place names. Once upon a time, I could tell where someone was born/raised by their accent and vocabulary. Those days are vanishing quickly.