5 ms·

Other than words, what are you using to express that sentiment?

• JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  Don't confuse a bare encoding of words with language. Gesture, timing, posture, expression can change everything. Pedant: "A double negative can mean the positive. But a double positive never means the negative" Smartass: "Yeah, right"
  • endtime 16y ago
    I don't disagree with that, but I don't think it's relevant. We can encode purely in words the instructions for washing a potato. Monkeys can't.
    • JoeAltmaier 16y ago
      We can also build lasers (some of us anyway), conceive of social security, vote, believe in money, trust the post office. When determining what is fundamental to being human, these peripheral, incidental things don't get to the core of the matter.
      • endtime 16y ago
        I'm not sure that the ability to encode arbitrary information is peripheral in the same way that lasers and welfare are.
        • JoeAltmaier 16y ago
          Sure, but you haven't hit bottom yet. Why can we encode arbitrary information? How does it help us? Where does the ability live? What is it connected to, and where did it come from?