Corpania Ideas

CAVEAT! I'm an amateur philosopher and idea-generator. I am NOT an investment professional. Don't take any of my advice before consulting with an attorney and also a duly licensed authority on finance. Seriously, this my personal blog of random ideas only for entertainment purposes. Don't be an idiot.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

"Three Languages" Parable

Little Analogy for those who appreciate my pedantic (maybe arrogant & unoriginal) and grandiose attempts at profundity...

A child is born (you don't know where) and learns his mother tongue.
It is comforting to speak. Ingrained. Familiar. The child grows up.

Meanwhile, that language has its opposite.
None of the second language's words mean anything to that person.
The second language is confusing and frustrating to engage for that person.
Consequently, that person has a cultural aversion to speakers of that second language.
Over time that cultural aversion leads to miscommunication & conflicts which lead to wars which lead to centuries-long blood feuds.

A third language is subsequently developed.
At first it doesn't seem to conflict with any of the other languages.
Worldwide, smart people are attracted to this third language for its reliability & functionality. Virtually regardless of background, smart people foster unprecedented cooperation using this third language (especially compared to other languages' explicit hostility towards & exclusion of rival languages).
This third language's cooperation leads to accelerating progress and invention.

Even those who don't speak this wonderful, new third language enjoy its fruits.
Eventually, this third language is seen as a threat by the speakers of the first two languages. These anxious speakers seek to restrict & ban elements and use of this third language despite its benefits.

But the undeniably better-educated speakers of the third language have mounting evidence and continual innovation on their side. So their numbers grow. They convincingly argue that when different people (raised in different lands with different languages) seek to communicate with each other they should agree to use the language that most effectively benefits all involved. Why should everyone learn the first language or the second when neither has any universally recognized advantage? Just the opposite; speakers of the first hate the second language and vice-versa. Whereas both sides at least appreciate the benefits of the third. So why not have everyone focus on that third language?

*Here's the potentially telegraphed "punchline"...
Is this third language English? Or is it Science?

Aren't the first two languages analogous to any two of the world's "Big 4 Religions"?
Therefore, I hope we all agree to focus on the third language (science) first and where it can't speak we thus tolerate the divisive, exclusionary languages to exist.

That is my attempt at a more poetic version of my clumsy "science is gold sand and religion is fools gold rocks" theory (where I argue that we should fill our heads with sand and if there are empty spaces we can then fill it with rocks as opposed to first filling our heads with rocks thus precluding space for more-valuable sand).


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