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>I believe that language is in the process of deeply integrating into the brain and still isn't really done yet. People have tricks that they use in order to in

by ffwd 10y ago

>I believe that language is in the process of deeply integrating into the brain and still isn't really done yet. People have tricks that they use in order to increase the compression rate of words. Narrative for instance. But we still have trouble reaching for words when we need them. I think the language part moves in parallel to the rest of the brain, silently translating thoughts and presenting them to the executive function. (what you think of as you) Thoughts are multi-dimensional, whereas words have many fewer. Yeah I don't know about all this though. Maybe the brain is very messy and we can't really understand something consciously until we can write/speak it in words, and that words connect disparate thoughts into something meaningful. Maybe this is what you were getting at with 'multi dimensional', but I would think language creates structure, not reduce structure. For things directly related to the body and rote repetition, the brain might do things we can't consciously express while still being good at it, but that's not really knowledge, that's more automatic neural response. To have knowledge you should have to encode it into some language I think. On a more broad level, I wonder what symbols like the alphabet and words really 'are', I would tend to think they have no more priority than other stimuli from the environment, but that rather in themselves as an environment for the brain, they have a lot of innate capability for representation and that the brain has learned to manipulate that environment with great skill, but that as far as internal thought goes it's just another environment like navigating a forest or sleeping in a hidden place under the trees to hide from predators. "it's all aesthetic as stimuli" so to speak

vinceguidry 10y ago
> To have knowledge you should have to encode it into some language I think. What we seem to do is to build concept 'maps' of relating information. The conscious mind has ready access to these maps and uses them to experience the world. I think because most people just aren't terribly intellectual, individual elements in these maps and the very structure of the maps reflect other people around them, what we call culture. But when we think, we remix and match the map against itself, building up connections between concepts. The more you do this, the less it resembles other peoples'. A person's definition of a word can change over time. The same basic concept can be represented in crazy-different ways in different people. What I think of when I hear 'Microsoft', is bound to be way different than what someone else thinks.

by ffwd 10y ago

vinceguidry 10y ago

> To have knowledge you should have to encode it into some language I think. What we seem to do is to build concept 'maps' of relating information. The conscious mind has ready access to these maps and uses them to experience the world. I think because most people just aren't terribly intellectual, individual elements in these maps and the very structure of the maps reflect other people around them, what we call culture. But when we think, we remix and match the map against itself, building up connections between concepts. The more you do this, the less it resembles other peoples'. A person's definition of a word can change over time. The same basic concept can be represented in crazy-different ways in different people. What I think of when I hear 'Microsoft', is bound to be way different than what someone else thinks.