“Dividends for Descendants” is what civilization really is. Does an act or policy produce it or not? If it doesn’t, it is counter to civilization (does not produce a surplus). – Steve Pender
Source: Original Site Post
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The Evolution of Intelligence
EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE (OUTWITTING DETERMINISM) 11 – Instrumentation(Artificial Intelligence) 10 – Language (late brain) 9 – Cooperation (Mid brain) 7 – Socialization (Early brain) 6 – Predation (Old brain) 5 – Escape (Brain Stem) 4 – Directional Movement (Nervous System) 3 – Movement (organisms) 2 – Reproduction (life – cells) 1 – Energy Conservation (we don’t have a name for this stage?)
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The Evolution of Intelligence
EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE (OUTWITTING DETERMINISM) 11 – Instrumentation(Artificial Intelligence) 10 – Language (late brain) 9 – Cooperation (Mid brain) 7 – Socialization (Early brain) 6 – Predation (Old brain) 5 – Escape (Brain Stem) 4 – Directional Movement (Nervous System) 3 – Movement (organisms) 2 – Reproduction (life – cells) 1 – Energy Conservation (we don’t have a name for this stage?)
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Differences Between Human and Animal “Language”.
—“What do believe is the qualitative difference between human and animal language?”—Bob Robertson As far as I know animals do not possess language, it only exists within humans. All other creatures merely manage to communicate. Charles Hockett (1967) introduced a generally accepted check list for language, a set of features that all human languages possess. His seven key properties are: 1 – productivity (the ability to create and understand new utterances): system which makes it possible to construct an unlimited number of sentences from a limited set of rules. 2 – arbitrariness (when signs/words do not resemble the things they represent), 3 – displacement (the ability to refer to the past and to things not present), and 4 – duality of pattern (the combination of a phonological system and a grammatical system), 5 – interchangeability (the ability to transmit and to receive messages by exchanging roles), 6 – specialization (when the only function of speech is communication and the speaker does not act out his message), 7 – cultural transmission (the ability to teach/learn from other individuals, e.g. by imitation). As far as I know the reason humans can speak is simply brain size and complexity (long chains). But I won’t go into all of it here. But the ability to imagine futures, imagine stories, ‘self-observe’ and describe those stories in a series of symbols, using a series of rules’ takes a great deal of processing power. While we can see elements of these patterns in parrots, corvids, dolphins, and the apes, we must teach them, and they say very simple things – because they only think very simple things. Assuming we selected and trained enough chimpanzees to use sign language to build a self sustaining community of them, and assuming we could leave them on an island for a few centuries, it’s possible that sign language would persist. I suspect the problem is that it’s hard to produce a community of chimps with the intelligence necessary for perpetuation.
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Differences Between Human and Animal “Language”.
—“What do believe is the qualitative difference between human and animal language?”—Bob Robertson As far as I know animals do not possess language, it only exists within humans. All other creatures merely manage to communicate. Charles Hockett (1967) introduced a generally accepted check list for language, a set of features that all human languages possess. His seven key properties are: 1 – productivity (the ability to create and understand new utterances): system which makes it possible to construct an unlimited number of sentences from a limited set of rules. 2 – arbitrariness (when signs/words do not resemble the things they represent), 3 – displacement (the ability to refer to the past and to things not present), and 4 – duality of pattern (the combination of a phonological system and a grammatical system), 5 – interchangeability (the ability to transmit and to receive messages by exchanging roles), 6 – specialization (when the only function of speech is communication and the speaker does not act out his message), 7 – cultural transmission (the ability to teach/learn from other individuals, e.g. by imitation). As far as I know the reason humans can speak is simply brain size and complexity (long chains). But I won’t go into all of it here. But the ability to imagine futures, imagine stories, ‘self-observe’ and describe those stories in a series of symbols, using a series of rules’ takes a great deal of processing power. While we can see elements of these patterns in parrots, corvids, dolphins, and the apes, we must teach them, and they say very simple things – because they only think very simple things. Assuming we selected and trained enough chimpanzees to use sign language to build a self sustaining community of them, and assuming we could leave them on an island for a few centuries, it’s possible that sign language would persist. I suspect the problem is that it’s hard to produce a community of chimps with the intelligence necessary for perpetuation.
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Power and Voice
POWER AND VOICE Laconic speech is a luxury of power. The spartans could speak as such because they mastered and made universal, martial epistemology. Most speech is either political or deceptive. The spartans needed neither. Seek power for the freedom to speak laconically. Laconic speech requires deep knowledge of the subject, extraordinary honesty, extraordinary insight, and an audience of nearly equal ability, whose experience and sentiments mirror the speaker’s. It’s wisdom is lost on the idiots. Seek the wise, so you have others to speak to. I think the modern version of laconic speech is the aphorism – which nietzsche mastered (and I try to). It allows us to speak of that which others may not yet comprehend, where the laconic merely cuts through dishonesty and posturing. It is *extremely difficult* to speak in laconic voice or aphoristic prose and it is probably, other than poetic rhyme, and poetic song, our greatest intellectual art.
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Power and Voice
POWER AND VOICE Laconic speech is a luxury of power. The spartans could speak as such because they mastered and made universal, martial epistemology. Most speech is either political or deceptive. The spartans needed neither. Seek power for the freedom to speak laconically. Laconic speech requires deep knowledge of the subject, extraordinary honesty, extraordinary insight, and an audience of nearly equal ability, whose experience and sentiments mirror the speaker’s. It’s wisdom is lost on the idiots. Seek the wise, so you have others to speak to. I think the modern version of laconic speech is the aphorism – which nietzsche mastered (and I try to). It allows us to speak of that which others may not yet comprehend, where the laconic merely cuts through dishonesty and posturing. It is *extremely difficult* to speak in laconic voice or aphoristic prose and it is probably, other than poetic rhyme, and poetic song, our greatest intellectual art.
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The Filtering Process
As far as I know, Universities filter but don’t educate. Fraternities like universities filter further on sociability. Sports like Fraternities select you further on teamwork. Charities like fraternities select you further on service. Universities are meaningful for selecting you. Fraternities are meaningful for selecting you. Sports are meaningful for selecting you. IQ, Industriousness, manners(class), sociability, loyalty, attractiveness are meaningful. Degrees, grades, are not.
