Ah Veronika! Words! The synchronicity to my current writing is now being referred to as a soulchronicity!
Words. Giving language to words -
Words to language. The first sound is no sound. A naked indentation. The tip of a word on a taste of tongue. Touched. Lips. Tasted. Imagination. Heard. Nosed. Before it’s scent is released as anything visual. Its beyond eyes.
“AI cannot roll a word, slowly, around a tongue, in a mouth full of teeth, feel the pull of muscles shaping phrases to reverberate in a larynx, or taste the weight of syllables balanced on a breath. It cannot feel the rising swell of a vowel, nor the catch of a consonant at the back of the throat. It cannot let a sentence linger on the lips, shape meaning from memory, and the music of the mind.”
Goosebumps! Will swallow this one slow. Words. Never to waste. Always to savour. If only to get to the other side of what words can never say to all the phases of the moon.
yes, isn't Emily's writing inspiring? (not to mention her stunning artwork)
soulchronicity! ❤️
I've been thinking a lot about the use of the word 'language' in the same breath as AI lately. Is it even language if it doesn't have a tongue and cannot think...
And why have humans come up with the image of a 'language-tree' (following on from an ill-fated tower of languages)...
so many questions still to live into, so it looks like my flow of wordcasts is not going to trickle away any time soon
And does the music of the mind sing the universal song of the soul — just a question that popped in for me, contextual of course. And how does that translate to our ‘tongue – language’ — landscapes and soundscapes. Thank you for bringing attention to the interchangeability here; I am always eager to sit with your offerings with language.
“we must keep in mind that words ~ whether written or spoken ~ do not mark the beginnings of human communication.”
To colonisation and linguicide; “Colonialist missionaries on the American and Australian continents perceived indigenous languages as inferior, savage, or daemonic ~ assessments which justified, in their minds, the eradication of the native tongues.”
Aboriginal Australia: over 200 languages and 800 dialects — so many lost, and as the federal election looms this weekend, we have the sickening posturing from one of the major political parties to ‘do away with welcome country’. Language is culture.
And appalling policies (currently enacted ) in some schools banning NESB students speaking L1 in classrooms. Same fear. More lost opportunities of connection and the strengthening of community.
Might we also listen to the language of the rest of the sentient beings on this planet?
Thank you for everything you offer us, and for alerting us to Emily’s post. 🙏 🌱 💜
Isn't that sad and unbelievable? They're still at it?!?!?
"I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations." said English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
Do we ever learn?
I am grateful for every human who has recognised and voiced their concern about this disregard for and disrespectful treatment of languages (no matter which language)
And the greatest irony is (in my mind) that we so easily dismiss the languages of other sentient beings, while readily acknowledging that 'machines have language skills'...
Hi Veronika, Yes time the 'system' crashed because I don't think it represents the people anymore; 'we' the people just aren't quite confident enough in our collective consciousness and or therefore lack the creativity to make change. What a great quote, pity about Australia's (gov't) pedigree then. Yes, well, a great irony given that a machine has no consciousness, it's a 'no brainer' isn't it? Think I might seek counsel with a tree or two today. Cheers 😊 🥂 💚
A couple of days ago, when we experienced the 'biggest blackout in living memory' on the Iberian peninsula, and everything electric was obviously very much limited by its battery power, we mainly saw the ironic side of it. That's how autonomous AI is! It lasts a few hours, exactly as long as those batteries hold their charge. And then dead! Nada!!
We went out into the garden and planted blueberries. Cheers indeed 😊 🥂 💚
Why am I laughing 🤣 🌱, it’s the seeking of relief from all the madness in the garden — the simple and sacred act planting one of the brain’s superfoods. Love it. I just planted beetroot 😊.
absolutely. It's about connecting with what makes sense. Food, plants, birds and buzzing creatures... life always goes on in the garden 🌱 🐌 🦎 🐞 I even saw a little snake.
Today the owner of a grocery store in our nearby town told us that yesterday (the day after the blackout) her shelves were empty. People instantly went into panic-buying-mode. So blackouts are obviously good for business, if you're running a grocery store. 😅
Yes, 😊🙏 ... today I am going to walk barefoot along the shore and see what's going on in a few rock pools and feel into the wind and waves. To blow off the election hoopla. We had that same mad dash and emptying of shelves in the anticipated threat of a cyclone in March. This fear driven lack and catastrophising — just what the government machine wants — at least a little win for the small town, friendly grocery store. 🤣 And maybe go home via the nursery to grab some seedlings 😊 🌱
Your researches to my mind are an important introduction, not least to woeful morality across cultural collision.
I speculate that 'words', like 'images', are a sense organ for access to aspects / content of the universe. (I sense here perhaps the influence of McGilchrist opening up doors for me.😊) Life forms have senses capable of accessing many of these aspects, some having more specialist organs than our generalist set; witness across the spectrum of sound, vibrational and light frequencies, molecular contact, odour and so on.
A thought on our own acquisition and sense of language... recent studies have revealed more about the descent of the human infant larynx that allows finer vocalisation. (The second descent of the larynx occurs in males at puberty.) It seems however a fairly common parental experience that infants understand, indeed have a vocabulary of words well before they get round to uttering them.
Some minor points: I am intrigued. The St James Bible we have in the house begins the New Testament with Mathew, whereas you begin it with John? According to some authorities John was written by a later hand, perhaps reflecting the ongoing Hellenic contact, in this case integration, with Jewish religion, (summarised by G. Vermes, 2012).
The New Testament I grew up with also starts with the Gospel of Matthew. But the quote from John here it was about the often quoted statement "In the beginning was the word" (usually interpreted literally) not the beginning of the NT.
Some say that there have been countless Gospels, and the 4 which have been included in the familiar versions of the NT were chosen for churchpolitical reasons... probably true, but this would be a different conversation.
Thanks very much Veronika. That looks a very interesting book. I just checked McGilchrist bibliography half expecting him to have cited it. He has quite a lot to say on language and the way we think. But he missed this Anderson book.
I am becoming curious about 'culture' as an exosomatic environment with its own semi-independent development historically, perhaps capable of excluding certain faculties of the mind, e.g. recognition of morality or some other 'goods' of relationship, like beauty.
And then on cue along came an email from Rupert Sheldrake's substack and his latest essay 'Why is there so much beauty in the world?' He digs deep into the old fascination that beauty is of the substance of the universe.
Which has reminded me of Ezra Pound's refrain threaded through the Pisan Cantos, 'beauty is difficult', and the resolution, 'Under white clouds, cielo di Pisa... out of all this beauty something must come'.
Having spent this morning on a farm of a beekeeper listening to an introduction to the world of flowers from the perspective of a honeybee, I am slightly perplexed at Sheldrake's question:
"But how much beauty does a flower need to attract an insect?" followed by the statement:
"You can make artificial flowers that attract bees from cut-out pieces of coloured cardboard." and then the question:
"So what is it about flowers that bees see and appreciate?"
Surely Rupert Sheldrake knows all about nectar and pollen and propolis collected by bees to sustain the hive and the survival of their species to know what they appreciate about flowers?
Reading Sheldrake's article reminds me of the quote by Buckminster Fuller, "When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."
Sheldrake throws the ball (argument?) in the air? Kingsnorth still kept at the arguments even after he converted... he has settled a bit with practice. It is very difficult to balance the modern mind. I am still unsettled by the 'noddy' 'explanations' so often offered up in natural and social sciences.
I chose 'science' early on in formal education because painting, drawing and poetry were too important to expose them to the collective mind I had already encountered.
Intuitively I understood that 'science' was always 'wrong', necessarily arguable, and thus less important. (Latterly I have wondered if 'science' needs to make a machine to prove the argument, then it misses the point? I guess it is possible these days to make robot bees.) The same came for me to apply to religious doctrine or any replacement dogmatic ... at times a bumpy road, I like to get along with people.
I had friends, scholars at high level in the humanities, in language and in literature, who, perhaps more than my later science colleagues could not get away from the categorisation, mostly fairly modern it seems, of the 'objective' and the 'subjective'; it seemed too obvious. 'Beauty' for them had to be 'subjective'. Well no; I remember the first conscious moment when I was 17 and found myself declaring that beauty was a 'real', independent of my opinion, when I got the chance to see it. There are other 'goods' we might discuss, even share with bees.😊Thanks.👍
I totally get that. We met Rupert Sheldrake over 18 years ago at a festival in Somerset, where we were both attending with our families (his boys were still young kids and his wife Jill Purce was offering a workshop on overtone singing). I've been in great admiration of his work, his courage to challenge science, and the work of Merlin Sheldrake about fungi and the 'entangled life' is equally inspiring.
Then we listened to the 2023 Holberg debate on consciousness:
and were left 'deflated'... wondering why Rupert S. was still talking about the same stuff we'd read in his books from the 1990s. Perhaps he is still trying to convince his fellow scientists that there are alternative ways to look at science?
What a deeply thoughtful reflection on the history and essence of ‘word’, Veronika. Thank you so much for sharing. It’s such a poignant reminder to me of how deeply languages are intertwined with human identity, memory and culture. Your own words inspire deep appreciation for the transformative power of speech and the unspoken music of mind, body, spirit and soul.
You’ve gently nudged me to remember how, as a child, I often chose silence - reading faces, gestures, touch and body language instead. And then, somewhere around the age of nine, I discovered the alphabet and found such joy in its shapes and sounds. Since then, both spoken and written words have been the twin pillars of my life, alongside art, which holds equal importance for me.
Have you ever come across Leonard Shlain’s incredible book "The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image"? I found it so inspiring when I read it that I ended up writing a long poem ("The Marriage of Word and Image") afterward. If you’re familiar with it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Absolutely! I've read The Alphabet Versus the Goddess many years ago. A fantastic and important book for anyone with any interest in the use of language (and its role in human history) we take for granted. It's been a long time, and I've lost the copy I once owned, but I often think that I should read it again...
Your personal story with language is fascinating too. It reminds me a bit of a German author (and pianist) whose story I am including in my next wordcast on language (next week)
Language intertwined with human identity etc. – indeed! This is an essential point. Language is, allegedly, what distinguishes humans most from other sentient beings. Language is our symbiont. Without humans there would be no language. On the other hand, some thinkers argue, that without language there would be no humans...
Oh, I had a feeling Shlain's book might have rested in your lap, dreaming its wisdom into your thoughts. Well, I'm already looking forward to your next wordcast as it was my love for the alphabet that broke the silence of my childhood too, along with a couple of years of intense speech therapy. Language and humanity seem inseparable, don't they?! Each shaping and defining the very essence of the other. Many thanks, Veronika. Your posts are always deeply appreciated.
Yikes - "Some years ago, after befriending a mother with two children, I witnessed an unsettling incident. She threatened to wash her child’s mouth for ‘using dirty language.’ the was a ploy of my mother too!
I very much enjoy learning the story of language/s through you, Veronika. The reference to what AI can't do reminds me of how sacred life is, even on our bad days, it's a good reminder that we can experience the world through our senses--and what a full life that is. xo
Such a fascinating essay Veronica. Thank you for your kind words about my own thoughts on the physicality of creativity in comparison to AI, it fits so well into this context examining language and words. Bravo
yes, when we understand the symbiotic relationship between humans and language, it becomes clear why dictators are always so keen on suppressing the word... who would have thought that this could happen in 'the land of the free'?
I am catching up! Albeit slowly... Veronika I do apologise for my tardiness, the school trip, whilst already a week past now, has caused me incalculable backlogs... everywhere!
But I am here now and delighted to be so...
What a truly scrumptious adventure around the music of the tongue, or indeed the hand or the face. Language is such a wonderfully diverse and intricate weave of necessary communication isn't it? Whether that be silent or vocal, written or drawn in beautiful hieroglyphs the world would be a sad and empty place without and I don't know anyone else that understands its form and origins in so much wonderful and captivating detail as you do. Thank you 🙏🏼✨x
I love that you included Emily's beautiful and inspirational essay on AI, it literally took my breath away!
Thank you Susie 🙏🏼✨ I'm always delighted to 'see' you here (or over at 'yours')
Yes, Emily's glorious essay on AI, I know!!
It also contributed (indirectly) to kicking the ball of ideas over the kerb into this week's wordcast (my contribution to the topic of AI from the languaging perspective) where I took a long shot into rewording what computer algorithms in the guise of AI actually do. My favourite one is 'apologise'
Ah Veronika! Words! The synchronicity to my current writing is now being referred to as a soulchronicity!
Words. Giving language to words -
Words to language. The first sound is no sound. A naked indentation. The tip of a word on a taste of tongue. Touched. Lips. Tasted. Imagination. Heard. Nosed. Before it’s scent is released as anything visual. Its beyond eyes.
“AI cannot roll a word, slowly, around a tongue, in a mouth full of teeth, feel the pull of muscles shaping phrases to reverberate in a larynx, or taste the weight of syllables balanced on a breath. It cannot feel the rising swell of a vowel, nor the catch of a consonant at the back of the throat. It cannot let a sentence linger on the lips, shape meaning from memory, and the music of the mind.”
Goosebumps! Will swallow this one slow. Words. Never to waste. Always to savour. If only to get to the other side of what words can never say to all the phases of the moon.
Keep writing! We need you! 🙏❤️
yes, isn't Emily's writing inspiring? (not to mention her stunning artwork)
soulchronicity! ❤️
I've been thinking a lot about the use of the word 'language' in the same breath as AI lately. Is it even language if it doesn't have a tongue and cannot think...
And why have humans come up with the image of a 'language-tree' (following on from an ill-fated tower of languages)...
so many questions still to live into, so it looks like my flow of wordcasts is not going to trickle away any time soon
Something tells me it will turn into a river! Keep flowing! It helps us keep growing. One word at a time. 🙏❤️
How did you know 😅
It must be that soulchronicity... 💗🙏 🎶 𓍢ִִ໋🌊🦈
Indeed Jamie. AI can neither taste not give weight.
Hi Veronika,
And does the music of the mind sing the universal song of the soul — just a question that popped in for me, contextual of course. And how does that translate to our ‘tongue – language’ — landscapes and soundscapes. Thank you for bringing attention to the interchangeability here; I am always eager to sit with your offerings with language.
“we must keep in mind that words ~ whether written or spoken ~ do not mark the beginnings of human communication.”
To colonisation and linguicide; “Colonialist missionaries on the American and Australian continents perceived indigenous languages as inferior, savage, or daemonic ~ assessments which justified, in their minds, the eradication of the native tongues.”
Aboriginal Australia: over 200 languages and 800 dialects — so many lost, and as the federal election looms this weekend, we have the sickening posturing from one of the major political parties to ‘do away with welcome country’. Language is culture.
And appalling policies (currently enacted ) in some schools banning NESB students speaking L1 in classrooms. Same fear. More lost opportunities of connection and the strengthening of community.
Might we also listen to the language of the rest of the sentient beings on this planet?
Thank you for everything you offer us, and for alerting us to Emily’s post. 🙏 🌱 💜
Isn't that sad and unbelievable? They're still at it?!?!?
"I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations." said English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
Do we ever learn?
I am grateful for every human who has recognised and voiced their concern about this disregard for and disrespectful treatment of languages (no matter which language)
And the greatest irony is (in my mind) that we so easily dismiss the languages of other sentient beings, while readily acknowledging that 'machines have language skills'...
Hi Veronika, Yes time the 'system' crashed because I don't think it represents the people anymore; 'we' the people just aren't quite confident enough in our collective consciousness and or therefore lack the creativity to make change. What a great quote, pity about Australia's (gov't) pedigree then. Yes, well, a great irony given that a machine has no consciousness, it's a 'no brainer' isn't it? Think I might seek counsel with a tree or two today. Cheers 😊 🥂 💚
A couple of days ago, when we experienced the 'biggest blackout in living memory' on the Iberian peninsula, and everything electric was obviously very much limited by its battery power, we mainly saw the ironic side of it. That's how autonomous AI is! It lasts a few hours, exactly as long as those batteries hold their charge. And then dead! Nada!!
We went out into the garden and planted blueberries. Cheers indeed 😊 🥂 💚
Why am I laughing 🤣 🌱, it’s the seeking of relief from all the madness in the garden — the simple and sacred act planting one of the brain’s superfoods. Love it. I just planted beetroot 😊.
absolutely. It's about connecting with what makes sense. Food, plants, birds and buzzing creatures... life always goes on in the garden 🌱 🐌 🦎 🐞 I even saw a little snake.
Today the owner of a grocery store in our nearby town told us that yesterday (the day after the blackout) her shelves were empty. People instantly went into panic-buying-mode. So blackouts are obviously good for business, if you're running a grocery store. 😅
Yes, 😊🙏 ... today I am going to walk barefoot along the shore and see what's going on in a few rock pools and feel into the wind and waves. To blow off the election hoopla. We had that same mad dash and emptying of shelves in the anticipated threat of a cyclone in March. This fear driven lack and catastrophising — just what the government machine wants — at least a little win for the small town, friendly grocery store. 🤣 And maybe go home via the nursery to grab some seedlings 😊 🌱
Delicious seems like the right word to describe this exploration of tongue.:) And ending with Emily’s prose left me drooling. ❤️
Your researches to my mind are an important introduction, not least to woeful morality across cultural collision.
I speculate that 'words', like 'images', are a sense organ for access to aspects / content of the universe. (I sense here perhaps the influence of McGilchrist opening up doors for me.😊) Life forms have senses capable of accessing many of these aspects, some having more specialist organs than our generalist set; witness across the spectrum of sound, vibrational and light frequencies, molecular contact, odour and so on.
A thought on our own acquisition and sense of language... recent studies have revealed more about the descent of the human infant larynx that allows finer vocalisation. (The second descent of the larynx occurs in males at puberty.) It seems however a fairly common parental experience that infants understand, indeed have a vocabulary of words well before they get round to uttering them.
Some minor points: I am intrigued. The St James Bible we have in the house begins the New Testament with Mathew, whereas you begin it with John? According to some authorities John was written by a later hand, perhaps reflecting the ongoing Hellenic contact, in this case integration, with Jewish religion, (summarised by G. Vermes, 2012).
The New Testament I grew up with also starts with the Gospel of Matthew. But the quote from John here it was about the often quoted statement "In the beginning was the word" (usually interpreted literally) not the beginning of the NT.
Some say that there have been countless Gospels, and the 4 which have been included in the familiar versions of the NT were chosen for churchpolitical reasons... probably true, but this would be a different conversation.
You might be interested in the book The Language Organ by Anderson & Lightfoot https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/language-organ/5561FFEF24D39EAFB1875429456A00F9
Thanks very much Veronika. That looks a very interesting book. I just checked McGilchrist bibliography half expecting him to have cited it. He has quite a lot to say on language and the way we think. But he missed this Anderson book.
I am becoming curious about 'culture' as an exosomatic environment with its own semi-independent development historically, perhaps capable of excluding certain faculties of the mind, e.g. recognition of morality or some other 'goods' of relationship, like beauty.
And then on cue along came an email from Rupert Sheldrake's substack and his latest essay 'Why is there so much beauty in the world?' He digs deep into the old fascination that beauty is of the substance of the universe.
Which has reminded me of Ezra Pound's refrain threaded through the Pisan Cantos, 'beauty is difficult', and the resolution, 'Under white clouds, cielo di Pisa... out of all this beauty something must come'.
'Why is there so much beauty...?'
Having spent this morning on a farm of a beekeeper listening to an introduction to the world of flowers from the perspective of a honeybee, I am slightly perplexed at Sheldrake's question:
"But how much beauty does a flower need to attract an insect?" followed by the statement:
"You can make artificial flowers that attract bees from cut-out pieces of coloured cardboard." and then the question:
"So what is it about flowers that bees see and appreciate?"
Surely Rupert Sheldrake knows all about nectar and pollen and propolis collected by bees to sustain the hive and the survival of their species to know what they appreciate about flowers?
Reading Sheldrake's article reminds me of the quote by Buckminster Fuller, "When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."
Sheldrake throws the ball (argument?) in the air? Kingsnorth still kept at the arguments even after he converted... he has settled a bit with practice. It is very difficult to balance the modern mind. I am still unsettled by the 'noddy' 'explanations' so often offered up in natural and social sciences.
I chose 'science' early on in formal education because painting, drawing and poetry were too important to expose them to the collective mind I had already encountered.
Intuitively I understood that 'science' was always 'wrong', necessarily arguable, and thus less important. (Latterly I have wondered if 'science' needs to make a machine to prove the argument, then it misses the point? I guess it is possible these days to make robot bees.) The same came for me to apply to religious doctrine or any replacement dogmatic ... at times a bumpy road, I like to get along with people.
I had friends, scholars at high level in the humanities, in language and in literature, who, perhaps more than my later science colleagues could not get away from the categorisation, mostly fairly modern it seems, of the 'objective' and the 'subjective'; it seemed too obvious. 'Beauty' for them had to be 'subjective'. Well no; I remember the first conscious moment when I was 17 and found myself declaring that beauty was a 'real', independent of my opinion, when I got the chance to see it. There are other 'goods' we might discuss, even share with bees.😊Thanks.👍
I totally get that. We met Rupert Sheldrake over 18 years ago at a festival in Somerset, where we were both attending with our families (his boys were still young kids and his wife Jill Purce was offering a workshop on overtone singing). I've been in great admiration of his work, his courage to challenge science, and the work of Merlin Sheldrake about fungi and the 'entangled life' is equally inspiring.
Then we listened to the 2023 Holberg debate on consciousness:
https://holbergprize.org/events-and-productions/the-2023-holberg-debate-does-consciousness-extend-beyond-brains/
and were left 'deflated'... wondering why Rupert S. was still talking about the same stuff we'd read in his books from the 1990s. Perhaps he is still trying to convince his fellow scientists that there are alternative ways to look at science?
Sorry, typo, no saint, King James Bible.
What a deeply thoughtful reflection on the history and essence of ‘word’, Veronika. Thank you so much for sharing. It’s such a poignant reminder to me of how deeply languages are intertwined with human identity, memory and culture. Your own words inspire deep appreciation for the transformative power of speech and the unspoken music of mind, body, spirit and soul.
You’ve gently nudged me to remember how, as a child, I often chose silence - reading faces, gestures, touch and body language instead. And then, somewhere around the age of nine, I discovered the alphabet and found such joy in its shapes and sounds. Since then, both spoken and written words have been the twin pillars of my life, alongside art, which holds equal importance for me.
Have you ever come across Leonard Shlain’s incredible book "The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image"? I found it so inspiring when I read it that I ended up writing a long poem ("The Marriage of Word and Image") afterward. If you’re familiar with it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Absolutely! I've read The Alphabet Versus the Goddess many years ago. A fantastic and important book for anyone with any interest in the use of language (and its role in human history) we take for granted. It's been a long time, and I've lost the copy I once owned, but I often think that I should read it again...
Your personal story with language is fascinating too. It reminds me a bit of a German author (and pianist) whose story I am including in my next wordcast on language (next week)
Language intertwined with human identity etc. – indeed! This is an essential point. Language is, allegedly, what distinguishes humans most from other sentient beings. Language is our symbiont. Without humans there would be no language. On the other hand, some thinkers argue, that without language there would be no humans...
Oh, I had a feeling Shlain's book might have rested in your lap, dreaming its wisdom into your thoughts. Well, I'm already looking forward to your next wordcast as it was my love for the alphabet that broke the silence of my childhood too, along with a couple of years of intense speech therapy. Language and humanity seem inseparable, don't they?! Each shaping and defining the very essence of the other. Many thanks, Veronika. Your posts are always deeply appreciated.
Yikes - "Some years ago, after befriending a mother with two children, I witnessed an unsettling incident. She threatened to wash her child’s mouth for ‘using dirty language.’ the was a ploy of my mother too!
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that... and now I'm curious: how did it affect you?
Well, it stayed with me for 60+ years - and I am careful with my Ps&Qs so I guess she did something right!
I very much enjoy learning the story of language/s through you, Veronika. The reference to what AI can't do reminds me of how sacred life is, even on our bad days, it's a good reminder that we can experience the world through our senses--and what a full life that is. xo
Thank you Lani 💗🙏 🐌 🐝 🐜 🦅 🦈 🌲🦇 🔥 a full life even on our bad days.
this was awesome. thank you. the ROOTS. i love some historical context, winding back to the place of birth of a thing.. and etymology.
Such a fascinating essay Veronica. Thank you for your kind words about my own thoughts on the physicality of creativity in comparison to AI, it fits so well into this context examining language and words. Bravo
And the suppression of the word leads to or is, in fact, autocracy--as we are seeing now in the U.S.
yes, when we understand the symbiotic relationship between humans and language, it becomes clear why dictators are always so keen on suppressing the word... who would have thought that this could happen in 'the land of the free'?
I am catching up! Albeit slowly... Veronika I do apologise for my tardiness, the school trip, whilst already a week past now, has caused me incalculable backlogs... everywhere!
But I am here now and delighted to be so...
What a truly scrumptious adventure around the music of the tongue, or indeed the hand or the face. Language is such a wonderfully diverse and intricate weave of necessary communication isn't it? Whether that be silent or vocal, written or drawn in beautiful hieroglyphs the world would be a sad and empty place without and I don't know anyone else that understands its form and origins in so much wonderful and captivating detail as you do. Thank you 🙏🏼✨x
I love that you included Emily's beautiful and inspirational essay on AI, it literally took my breath away!
Thank you Susie 🙏🏼✨ I'm always delighted to 'see' you here (or over at 'yours')
Yes, Emily's glorious essay on AI, I know!!
It also contributed (indirectly) to kicking the ball of ideas over the kerb into this week's wordcast (my contribution to the topic of AI from the languaging perspective) where I took a long shot into rewording what computer algorithms in the guise of AI actually do. My favourite one is 'apologise'
This linguacide was also attempted in Scotland. Pretty successfully as well. I remember the tail end of it as a primary school child.