Language

Humanity is gifted with a never-before-seen ability to calculate and measure. This is the basis for many sciences. Without this ability, we would be deprived of our technology. Equally important though is our comprehension of complex language.

With all the things we are capable of pondering, can you imagine if every person born had to start over on their own? You could spend most of your life just mastering fire so you could cook your dinner. Now imagine trying to impart complicated things you had learned like long division or how to make a rocket engine without language.

It allows us to transmit those abstract thoughts we have and share them with others. Even if you could conceive of a new type of airplane, you could not build it on your own. You would have to explain what you want to different people in order to build your plane.

In fairness, science has shown, some advanced animals, like dolphins and whales, may have rudimentary language. What makes humans different is that we have words for things that are not physical. We have words for ideas.

126

Abstract language is something we often take for granted. Much like abstract thought though, we cannot under value how crucial abstract language is. We can not only communicate things that are concrete and factually based like, say, the weather or events in the news – we can also transmit our own abstract thoughts.

Why is this distinct from abstract thought? Because, with language, we can share it. Abstract language allows us to not only share concrete information, but our own musings and thoughts as well. Abstract language is what allows us to communicate things regarding the nature of our universe and our philosophical delving into the nature of our universe as a whole.

Language also allows us to store information. With the advent of written language, we could store people’s thoughts to read and share for later generations. This allows us to learn from other people’s experiences. Without it, can you imagine being a scientist if you had to discover everything for yourself? Without language, we could not progress in our complexity.

In a very tangible sense, language is the hard drive of humanity. We permanently store information, so it is not lost when we lose one of our people.

127

Birnbaum tells us both that humans represent an organic computer within the universe and that humanity is an extension of Q4P capable of analyzing itself. When you put these two together, it becomes clearer the leap forward humanity represents. We can not only help Q4P along its path, but we can record our progress.

Consider it this way: How does life put forward into the universe what it has learned? Normally, this is DNA. All living things can record progress they have made towards E+ in their DNA. Humanity is very, very different though.

We don’t just transmit information uncontrollably in our DNA. With language, we control the very transmission of knowledge. Instead of just passively receiving DNA for knowledge, we actively use language to create archives of knowledge. Then, we can decide what is important and teach it to subsequent generations.

128