[extropy-chat] evolution of language: was Wetware vs. Hardware (was IQ vs Upload)

[The Avantguardian]

--- spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Perhaps that is the brilliance of newspeak: it
> removes the ambiguity of words.  The presence of
> "un-" prevents words from becoming their own
> opposite,
> so that good stays good, bad stays bad, fucked stays
> 
> double plus good, and so on.

Actually my experience as a half-decent wordsmith
would suggest that part of the power of, for example,
the English language is that the very ambiguity of it
has meaning. If I wan't to speak to 20 people who all
want to hear something different, it is the very
ambiguity of certain words and phrases that allow me
to say one thing that can make all 20 of them happy.
Just my own observation. Thus while newspeak might be
great for communicating logic and science, it sucks
(heh) for rhetoric.

The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson


		
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