Goodman Grey
11-29-2020, 01:12 PM
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/toolmaking-language-brain/562385/
I’ve come to see Bovaird, who teaches wilderness-survival skills in western Massachusetts, because I want to better understand the latest theories on the emergence of language—particularly a new body of research arguing that if not for our hominin ancestors’ hard-earned ability to produce complex tools, language as we know it might not have evolved at all.
“What kind of evolutionary pressures could have given rise to this really weird and surprising phenomenon that is so critical to the essence of being human?” And he has proposed a provocative answer. In a recent paper in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Kolodny argues that early humans—while teaching their kin how to make complex tools—hijacked the capacity for language from themselves.
Bovaird holds up his work in progress, a late Acheulean hand ax—the multi-tool of the middle-to-lower Paleolithic, good for cutting meat, digging dirt, smashing bone. The blade of this ax has a zigzag edge, with tiny, alternating flakes removed from each side of the cutting surface. To achieve this level of serration, Bovaird explains, he needs a precise understanding of how the stone works, as well as the ability to plan his work many steps in advance.
A flintknapper himself, Stout has taught hundreds of students how to make Acheulean-era tools, and he’s tracked their brain activity during the learning process. Stout found that his students’ white matter—or the neural connectivity in their brains—increased as they gained competence in flintknapping. His research suggests that producing complex tools spurred an increase in brain size and other aspects of hominin evolution, including—perhaps—the emergence of language.
Kolodny and Edelman argue that the neural networks required for complex, hierarchical, sequence-dependent tool production were exapted by our brain’s communicative apparatus, which is why word order and sentence structure make such a difference to meaning. Rudimentary language, which evolved in the context of toolmaking and teaching, was ultimately able to break away from its immediate contexts—this is the hijacking part—eventually employing those original cognitive pathways for its own unique purposes.
I suppose it kinda makes sense.
For example, how would most engineers create and build the software on our computers without software languages? Even this website probably uses at least one form of HTML and javascript.
I think part of the reason for failure on the part of the negro species is their lack of ambition. They never attempt to be more than they are, and accordingly, their brains never mutate and/or adapt to accommodate these changes. Humans got where they are today because they challenged themselves, sometimes even to the point where they risked death, and they benefited greatly from this, in the form of triple digit IQ's.
Niggers are content to remain where they are. They think "whitey will give us food, clothing, clean water, shelter, and even let us commit crimes if we say it's for BLM; why should we educate ourselves and work when we get rewarded for failure?"
And they do have a valid point. Why should they try when liberals continue to reward them for failure?
Edit: I think part of the problem also has to do with niggers trying and repeatedly failing. I think after several million years of epic failure, the niggers have, on some level, realized that they are failures, and they are now choosing to fail on purpose. Liberals think they are helping niggers by enabling this behavior, but they are not. Antifa and the liberals are doing more to set niggers up for failure than the KKK and the Nazis ever did.
Sure, slavery is considered "bad," but would niggers have ever had an opportunity to learn English if slavery had never happened? During the Roman empire's heyday, Roman culture was enriched by the Greek language (and knowledge of medicine) that the Greek slaves brought with them.
Okay, bad example.
Edit 2: Is it a coincidence that Latin is considered the language of Law, and Greek is considered the language of Medicine? The spoken and written versions probably arose and were used specifically to assist in describing things specific to those philosophies. Vulgar Greek and Vulgar Latin (the common tongues spoken by the masses) clearly came about as a means to communicate and establish a common shared reality.
I’ve come to see Bovaird, who teaches wilderness-survival skills in western Massachusetts, because I want to better understand the latest theories on the emergence of language—particularly a new body of research arguing that if not for our hominin ancestors’ hard-earned ability to produce complex tools, language as we know it might not have evolved at all.
“What kind of evolutionary pressures could have given rise to this really weird and surprising phenomenon that is so critical to the essence of being human?” And he has proposed a provocative answer. In a recent paper in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Kolodny argues that early humans—while teaching their kin how to make complex tools—hijacked the capacity for language from themselves.
Bovaird holds up his work in progress, a late Acheulean hand ax—the multi-tool of the middle-to-lower Paleolithic, good for cutting meat, digging dirt, smashing bone. The blade of this ax has a zigzag edge, with tiny, alternating flakes removed from each side of the cutting surface. To achieve this level of serration, Bovaird explains, he needs a precise understanding of how the stone works, as well as the ability to plan his work many steps in advance.
A flintknapper himself, Stout has taught hundreds of students how to make Acheulean-era tools, and he’s tracked their brain activity during the learning process. Stout found that his students’ white matter—or the neural connectivity in their brains—increased as they gained competence in flintknapping. His research suggests that producing complex tools spurred an increase in brain size and other aspects of hominin evolution, including—perhaps—the emergence of language.
Kolodny and Edelman argue that the neural networks required for complex, hierarchical, sequence-dependent tool production were exapted by our brain’s communicative apparatus, which is why word order and sentence structure make such a difference to meaning. Rudimentary language, which evolved in the context of toolmaking and teaching, was ultimately able to break away from its immediate contexts—this is the hijacking part—eventually employing those original cognitive pathways for its own unique purposes.
I suppose it kinda makes sense.
For example, how would most engineers create and build the software on our computers without software languages? Even this website probably uses at least one form of HTML and javascript.
I think part of the reason for failure on the part of the negro species is their lack of ambition. They never attempt to be more than they are, and accordingly, their brains never mutate and/or adapt to accommodate these changes. Humans got where they are today because they challenged themselves, sometimes even to the point where they risked death, and they benefited greatly from this, in the form of triple digit IQ's.
Niggers are content to remain where they are. They think "whitey will give us food, clothing, clean water, shelter, and even let us commit crimes if we say it's for BLM; why should we educate ourselves and work when we get rewarded for failure?"
And they do have a valid point. Why should they try when liberals continue to reward them for failure?
Edit: I think part of the problem also has to do with niggers trying and repeatedly failing. I think after several million years of epic failure, the niggers have, on some level, realized that they are failures, and they are now choosing to fail on purpose. Liberals think they are helping niggers by enabling this behavior, but they are not. Antifa and the liberals are doing more to set niggers up for failure than the KKK and the Nazis ever did.
Sure, slavery is considered "bad," but would niggers have ever had an opportunity to learn English if slavery had never happened? During the Roman empire's heyday, Roman culture was enriched by the Greek language (and knowledge of medicine) that the Greek slaves brought with them.
Okay, bad example.
Edit 2: Is it a coincidence that Latin is considered the language of Law, and Greek is considered the language of Medicine? The spoken and written versions probably arose and were used specifically to assist in describing things specific to those philosophies. Vulgar Greek and Vulgar Latin (the common tongues spoken by the masses) clearly came about as a means to communicate and establish a common shared reality.