The limitations of language...

I am beginning to feel that problems that we face are always connected to the limitation of any human language to explain how exactly we think or feel or whatever it is. Our brain goes through a process of accepting words as a medium of communication when we are kids and then it associates each words to its corresponding neurological electrical/organic signals and is stored in its memory. Even though our initial database is way primitive, our brain often rewrites those memory modules and updates and edits the electrical or organic signals and the meaning of the word changes.

Later when another person use the same word, our brain decodes it into its corresponding signals to comprehend the meaning. But obviously the other person's memory need not be carrying the same set of signals associated with the same word. Which results in communication troubles.

I guess this is the root where things are different for different zodiacs. The laws that decide the flow of signals and the processing as well is different. So even though we all speak the same language, what one group intends is received differently by another group of zodiac.

Which, in my opinion, it what makes the world go-round. And so diverse. Not to mention, the need for a board such as DXP to discover and learn and question one another.

Very interesting you are, thelibran. No one person perceives info quite like those that are sitting next to them (needless to say, their BFF), and so on....

I think we're pretty much forced to use words that another set of people invented but how accurate can it be really when it comes to someone's personal feelings and thoughts that came for unique experiences? Through our education we were thought to associate certain feelings to certain words, words that already existed, words that's been created to express experiences that is not ours. Now what if your mind, body or soul is going through something, no one has ever gone through the way you did? How are you suppose to relay that message to who ever needs it? I say we do our best with what we have to communicate but I believe that one will never be able to fully express his/her inner thoughts and feelings though speech. There will always be a portion that will remain unexpressed, inside.

I don't know that I agree. I've believed for quite some time now that language has the capability of carrying history along with it. Take a look at the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary, which is thousands of pages long and growing. The researchers will find the all the definitions that ever existed for a single word. The difference in history can be astounding, but think about it, some words carry that ancient history with them.

The word with the most definitions: BLACK.

Think about racial slurs, slang language. Language is evolving, and instead of it being a singular experience, I seriously believe it is a living entity in its own right and we merely influence it.

we are talking about real life scenarios where our senses can acquire even more data as input than mere text.

Well... not much of miscommunication in Libra board if you can observe for a while. One put forward an idea, others take a bit of time to comprehend it and then top it up with their own deductions and it keeps going on.

I think our feelings in totality can never quite fit into a word or mere word stucture perfectly, per se, as those on another board were trying to define love. i think there is poetry in language though, and i think some people may be able to express how they feel or think in numerous, unique ways, just the same; through music, film, stage, dance, writing, etc. etc. Language can be quite diverse in expression and universal in appeal, and in the most magical or idealistic moments can pull us together. I think we are basically as limited as our imaginations .. (even mimes have their own unique way of telling a story..wink~)

i too believe words generally have deep meaning and rich history. Also, there are so many words in an average dictionary that most people are unaware of. Then we have our cultural/generational kinds of slang that may stick or may not.

Words cant hurt unless you have associated a hurtful meaning to certain words.

((I think we are basically as limited as our imaginations))

Our imaginations are limited to what our eyes have observed. The database used for any form of imagination is limited to our visual exposure and the value and meaning we have tried to attribute to each object and subject.

"Our imaginations are limited to what our eyes have observed."

but not in our hearts, at least not mine, thelibran .. i don't merely move thru life by sensory images coming across my retina. i can imagine (many) things my eyes have never witnessed..

Like what? Every element in anyone's imagination is obtained from our stored memory patterns. If you haven't observed it, you only have a shadow of reality stored within you. You add or subtract features to one another from the existing patterns you have observed to create elements for ur imagination. Which explains unicorns, mermaids, angels, Golden gates of heaven, heaven is a place above the clouds and so on. Same goes for age old ideas about hell. ever wondered why hell doesnt have octopus or shark? Simply bcoz no one saw them completely to get a decent idea of how scary sea creatures looks like.

It goes back to plato's allegory of the cave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato% 27s_allegory_of_the_cave

The orign of thought is language, there are no limitations other than what you think.
Translating abstract thgoughts into words may be difficult, but it is the only way.

i can imagine (many) things my eyes have never witnessed..

mmmm, interesting, but most things you imagine or even feel in said heart are from stored information derived from somewhere, right? It doesn't necessary have to be seen by the eyes, could be picked up anywhere...

Every element in anyone's imagination is obtained from our stored memory patterns.
concur...


I think our imaginations are also limited by so much we don't even know of - the images can either become our realities where we find the way to express or just remain our imaginations... based on the environment or words we use

((The orign of thought is language, there are no limitations other than what you think. ))

Thought is often processed as organic or electrical pulses and it sure is processed real fast. Usually the process is automated when it comes to dealing with life tasks and nature but more or less forced and ends up being primitive logical analysis and pattern matching when we think in terms of society and the dynamics involved. Well thats how i have understood it.

and abt imagination. Suppose if you haven't seen a picture or any videos or have abs no idea about Japan or say any country with a totally different culture than your home country; and then you are reading a novel set in that countries cultural background... What would be the series of backdrops your imagination paints when you keep reading?

sci-fi always was speculation based on present day technology when the content was written. Like the HAL900 in 2001, a space odyssey is visually matching those days technology with large buttons and dials and big cameras and when Clarke wrote it, it was a bit more primitive and written in comparison to an existing object we can relate to. Now when we fast forward to I Robot, the same villain robot is represented in a different visual style matching current day technology way too far from what 1960's could predict. It was always a futuristic version of our current day objects. We added personal jet packs in one movie, time travel - aquas all time favorite subject was all over books and movies. Even the idea and looks of computers changed and evolved with time when man discovered several subjects can be mixed to get various new looks.

And this science fiction never originated till there was scientific revolution in the Europe. Till then it was all about palaces, kings, horses, monsters and witches which kidnapped the princess, all time favorite God and his magics, Mermaids, white foggy dream worlds and so on.

Well I take back what I said.

After some thought about this, I realized there are information in the brain that can never be put into words. There is quite a gap between information and words, just like there is quite a gap between information and reality.

This is really a nice topic 🙂