How the greatest technology ever developed backfired on us
Natural selection was probably the factor that led the Irish Elk to develop oversized antlers: they were a beneficial feature for the males in the sexual competition game. However, the weight of the antlers was also a burden and it has been argued that it was one of the reasons, perhaps the main one, that led to the extinction of this species, around 7,000 years ago. In the case of humans, we may consider language as an evolutionary advantageous feature, but also as something that may turn out to bring negative consequences very much like the elk’s antlers: the tsunami of lies we are continuously exposed to. Image from Wikipedia
Language is the real break of humans with everything else that walks, crawls, or flies on the earth. No other species (except bees) has a tool that can be used to exchange complex information among individuals in terms, for instance, of where food can be located and in what amounts. It is language that creates the human “ultrasociality,” it is language that allows us to get together, plan ahead, get things done. Language can be seen as a technology of communication of incredible power. But, as for all technologies, it has unexpected consequences.
We all know that the sound that we write as “deer” is associated with a specific kind of beast. With this symbol you can create sentences such as “I saw a deer near the river, let’s go hunt it!” But, when you create the symbol, in some ways you “create” a deer – a ghostly creature that has some of the characteristics of real deer. You can imagine the deer, even if there is no real deer around.
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