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Good riddance. When I have traveled the world I got to the conclusion that the main problem of the world is people speaking different languages. Americans, or

Good riddance. When I have traveled the world I got to the conclusion that the main problem of the world is people speaking different languages. Americans, or Japanese or Chinese believing whatever their media trows at them only happens because those people do not understand the rest of the languages of the world. Those countries are so big, the people living there believe they don't need other languages in order to live, so they live in their own bubble. For Americans it gets compounded because they also believe the world should learn their language and not the other way around. Languages are the main cause of conflict in the world today as without understanding them you are at the mercy of other people's interest. The person that yesterday was a friend, today could become an enemy just because media tells you so(because it is in their own interest). It is very hard for media to do that when people could actually travel their selves and understand reality talking to the people that supposedly hates them without intermediaries. People have the natural tendency to fear what they don't know about, and this could be used against them in order to justify mass surveillance, emergency measures, also called "total control of the ruling's elite". This was said by Goering in Nuremberg: "the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." Not different today. War is created by media. Living in a language bubble is dangerous. Most of the languages that are going to disappear are not that different from others that will survive. People that live near other people copy the best thing their neighbor has.

Dewie3 11y ago
Damn - if only programmers ruled the world, there could be world peace. Imagine a world of total conformance and homogeneity, identity stripped away in the name of standardization and streamlining. Finally, we would all understand each other... surely... Viva la programmacion!..
- analyst74 11y ago
  What carries culture is people, not the language they speak. Do all English speaking people think the same and have no identity? We humans are very good at both forming groups as well as self-segregation. There will never be total conformance and homogeneity. If you think certain group of people fall into that category, that's because your own lack of understanding of them rather than them being the same. In fact, if we all spoke the same language, there will actually be more understanding and less perceived sameness or difference.
  - meric 11y ago
    If we all do the same things during the day, there will actually be even more understanding and less perceived sameness or difference. People don't live to achieve total understanding and zero perceived difference with everyone else, rather, understanding and sameness exists to facilitate living. Slowly getting to know people who spoke no common language with you and finally both of you managing to build rapport and communicate clearly with each other is a fulfilling experience. Advocating monoculture of language isn't too different to advocating a monoculture of crops, destroying diversity of life in the name of efficiency. Efficiency facilitates living. Sacrificing experience of life in the name of efficiency kind of defeats the point. You want more, more of what, exactly?
  - hkailahi 11y ago
    Language is a barrier, and barriers have had a huge part in developing and maintaining cultures (Think mountains/laws/etc). Language keeps many cultural thoughts, perceptions, artifacts, and philosophies from both entering and leaving. Like you said, the idea of everyone speaking the same language could never result in total homogeneity. However, you could lose out on some of the deeper insights and developments without language to filter out the noise. I believe that it would be a huge step backwards, but obviously you may disagree.

Dewie3 11y ago

Damn - if only programmers ruled the world, there could be world peace. Imagine a world of total conformance and homogeneity, identity stripped away in the name of standardization and streamlining. Finally, we would all understand each other... surely... Viva la programmacion!..

analyst74 11y ago
What carries culture is people, not the language they speak. Do all English speaking people think the same and have no identity? We humans are very good at both forming groups as well as self-segregation. There will never be total conformance and homogeneity. If you think certain group of people fall into that category, that's because your own lack of understanding of them rather than them being the same. In fact, if we all spoke the same language, there will actually be more understanding and less perceived sameness or difference.
- meric 11y ago
  If we all do the same things during the day, there will actually be even more understanding and less perceived sameness or difference. People don't live to achieve total understanding and zero perceived difference with everyone else, rather, understanding and sameness exists to facilitate living. Slowly getting to know people who spoke no common language with you and finally both of you managing to build rapport and communicate clearly with each other is a fulfilling experience. Advocating monoculture of language isn't too different to advocating a monoculture of crops, destroying diversity of life in the name of efficiency. Efficiency facilitates living. Sacrificing experience of life in the name of efficiency kind of defeats the point. You want more, more of what, exactly?
- hkailahi 11y ago
  Language is a barrier, and barriers have had a huge part in developing and maintaining cultures (Think mountains/laws/etc). Language keeps many cultural thoughts, perceptions, artifacts, and philosophies from both entering and leaving. Like you said, the idea of everyone speaking the same language could never result in total homogeneity. However, you could lose out on some of the deeper insights and developments without language to filter out the noise. I believe that it would be a huge step backwards, but obviously you may disagree.