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08-29-2006, 08:00 AM
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#21 |
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09-02-2006, 08:00 AM
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#22 |
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I wonder why the mods have not taken out crap's post since it scraps of the AIT.
 How is it when we say something about the AIT it gets erased? 
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09-22-2006, 08:00 AM
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#23 |
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Urdu speakers in India must not be confused with the Urdu speakers in Pakistan.
Most of the Pakistani Urdu speakers ethnically belong to one race - Punjabi. Their sharp facial bone structure and light complexion easily gives away their race. However, most of the Indian Urdu speakers ethnically don't belong to any single dominant race. You can find Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Bengalis, Kashmiris, Malayalees and even scheduled people in India who speak Urdu. The differing facial bone structures (sharp to oval) and complexions (light to dark) are a living evidence. :P |
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10-08-2006, 08:00 AM
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#24 |
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Urdu speakers in India must not be confused with the Urdu speakers in Pakistan. |
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10-11-2006, 08:00 AM
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#25 |
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I have read in many books taht Hindi actually originated in the Deccan area, not in Delhi. |
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12-31-2006, 11:07 PM
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#26 |
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I heard that both Urdu and Hindi are developed basically as a language for controlling elephants and Horses !!
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01-02-2007, 06:45 AM
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#27 |
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Normally; most people with average mental capacity hold language as nothing more than just a communication medium, which is true, only when it comes to the use of a language. But such perception is absolutely false when it comes to grasp the exact developmental and evolutionary course of the language. The notion, that language is nothing more than just a medium of communication, completely falls over when one closely examines the whole evolutionary process involved in the development of a language.
The level of evolution of a language directly reflects the level of cognitive development of the people who developed that particular language. Here is some more light on the state of affairs between the cognitive endowments of the societies and the development of their languages: Society, Culture, Nation and such other words, encapsulate the concept of Civilisation, which consequently entails people or public as a whole. Public broadly divides into two groups: - Intellectuals and General Public or masses The Intellectual Group further divides into two governing categories: - Honest and Corrupt Similarly, the General Public also divides into two predominant categories: - Aware and Impetuous Though, it is normal to expect Intellectuals and General Public somewhere in the middle of the pertinent categories, the following analytical discussion is based on the undiluted, predominant categories listed above. For a civilisation to come into being and develop, interaction between the intellectuals and general public, no matter how significant or insignificant it may be, is inevitable and this is a fundamental ground upon which the formation of any society can be based. Based on the above four categories of human conducts, the following four sets of social interaction process that can take place among the people can be identified. Intellectuals -- General Public 1) Honest -- Aware 2) Honest -- Impetuous 3) Corrupt -- Aware 4) Corrupt -- Impetuous The quality of such interaction may change over time. Nonetheless, it is essentially a very slow process and it takes several generations for a society to identify requisite changes for improvements and advancement in the state of affairs of language development, which is essentially achieved by the quality of the operative feedback loops. The process begins with some sort of communication between the people. In order to establish any communication, the invention and use of languages was only natural and logical course. For a language to be comprehensible and intelligible to all people involved, the development and grasp of various concepts that could provide means for common mental representations of people, places, objects, events, situations, activities; and other concrete and abstracts terms are absolutely essential. Thus, concepts form the basic building blocks of human thoughts and then become the foundation of mental categories, which people use for classification, in evaluating information, in making decisions and then act accordingly. This way, concepts get firmly planted in language and in turn the entire process forms a strong psychological bond between concept formation and evolution of the language. Thus: - The power of language reflects people’s ability to form clear and strong concepts, which in turn depends on the quality of interaction process that is operative among the group of people at a given period of time-frame. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the quality of cognitive endowments of the society that speaks that language. - Language forms the fundamental base of human cognitive process, which develops and evolves over generations and centuries depending on the existing communicable thoughts and knowledge. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the level of progress and advancement of the society. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the quality of interaction among the various members of the society in question. The following are the representative examples of the developmental courses of four societies based upon the evolution of their languages 1) Honest -- Aware Concepts: - Clear Language: - Evolved Cognitive Process: - Actualising Society: - Developed Feedback: - Generative 2) Honest -- Impetuous Concepts: - Cogent Language: - Developed Cognitive Process: - Effective Society: - Latent Feedback: - Restorative 3) Corrupt -- Aware Concepts: - Vague Language: - Deceptive Cognitive Process: - Pretentious Society: - Crippled Feedback: - Restorative 4) Corrupt -- Impetuous Concepts: - Weak Language: - Slender Cognitive Process: - Obscured Society: - Backward Feedback: - Degenerative It should not put too much of a strain on the peoples' minds wanting to conclude where both of these languages; in fact, any of the 26 or so Indian languages stand, not in terms of the number of their speakers, but in terms of their abilities to serve the demands and sophistication required in the communication needs of today and future.   
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01-17-2007, 08:40 AM
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#28 |
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The level of evolution of language directly reflects the quality of cognitive endowments of the society that speaks that language. So, how relevant is Sanskrit today? Huet replies: "How relevant is Internet in this Kali Yuga? Let us not be too arrogant with technology, please."
"Relevance of something depends upon its usefulness. Sanskrit is rich with applicable information," explains Sudhatma. "Sanskrit covers almost all practical subjects, whether it is tool manufacturing, medicine preparation or astronomical research." Jiten, who holds a degree in computer science, points to the potential of Sanskrit as the most advanced computer language: "NASA and many research firms have been looking at it as a possible computer language since its syntax is perfect and leaves little room for error." "Sanskrit is like a timeless work by a great artist. Present day regional languages borrow more than 80 per cent words from Sanskrit. It is significant in this Internet age, just as it was useful earlier," adds Yelagalawadi. http://www.rediff.com/netguide/2003/jul/24sanskrit.htm |
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01-17-2007, 11:14 AM
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#29 |
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A language becomes dead when the quality of cognitive endowments of the people that speaks that language degenerates, rendering them incapable of forming new and advanced concepts, which eventually drives the language to its extinction.
A language becomes dead when it ceases to evolve; for it becomes incapable of remaining the base of human cognitive process and it is no longer useful in communicating existing communicable thoughts and knowledge. A language becomes dead when it becomes incapable of serving the communication needs of the time. A language becomes dead when it becomes useless in the progress and advancement of the society. A language becomes extinct when interaction in that language ceases.
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01-18-2007, 06:57 AM
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#30 |
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According to G.H. Hardy, renowned British mathematician, most of theoretical mathematics has no application or usefulness to the "real world." Nevertheless, this does not decrease the "value" of theoretical mathematics. As Hardy states, mathematics provides its own justification. Those who assign sweeping "value" judgements to an entire field, for example, mathematics or linguistics, usually do not have deep familiarity with the subject matter of which they speak, rather, their knowledge is limited to a certain portion of the subject matter. For example, an engineer may use laplace transforms in the day-to-day work by referring to a standard table, but only a professional mathematician will take the time to derive the transform and justifiy the properties of the transform using an axiomatic scheme. Very clearly, one can see the difference in insight. As well as the relative meaning of the term "useful."
"It is undeniable that a good deal of elementary mathematics-- and I use the word 'elementary' in the sense in which professional mathematicians use it, in which it includes, for example, a fair working knowledge of the differential and integral calculus) has considerable practical utility. These parts of mathematics are, on the whole, rather dull; they are the parts which have the least aesthetic value. The 'real' mathematics of the 'real' mathematicians, the mathematics of Fermat and Euler and Gauss and Abel and Riemann, is almost wholly 'useless'(and this is as true of 'applied' as of 'pure' mathematics. It is not possible to justify the life of any genuine professional mathematician on the ground of the 'utility' of his work." - A Mathematician's Apology, by G. H. Hardy |
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01-18-2007, 09:22 AM
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#31 |
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Here, language is meant as natural language and not as artificial languages used for software development for, or programming of, computers and robots or AI that may not develop autonomous thinking capacity of their own in a foreseeable future.
A language must carry social dimensions; and likewise, there must exist linguistic dimensions of society too. A language can serve as a medium of communication, only if it is spoken and/or written by society. A language must be capable of communication of thoughts and experiences through structural representation of conceptual terms having cognitive dimensions and/or orientations. A language should be capable of serving as a medium of communication, both for vocal and/or written instructions as well as in education in general. When a language loses its social dimensions, and at the same time, the linguistic dimensions of society towards the language no longer exist, the language degenerates, becomes dead and eventually goes extinct. Those who suffer from cognitive degeneration, which renders them incapable of grasping the overall process involved in language development and its evolution as briefly described earlier, invariably use false analogies and dissonance ridden fallacies to maintain the false value of the dead and/or extinct languages. Such approach avoidance conflicts are frequently observed in those dull novices who are inculcated to assimilate almost all forms of fallacies and blunders, since they severely lacked in autonomous thinking ability to grasp the essentials and correlates of situations. And therefore, they may never realise the fact that they indiscriminately keep committing fallacies and blunders while arguing without having any real evidence in support even when the situation necessarily requires some strong ones. Nonetheless, there is no stronger evidence of the death of a language than the dead language itself.
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01-20-2007, 12:26 PM
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#32 |
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There is a fundamental difference between linguists and language professors using cellular phones and the scientists and engineers developing and designing cellular networks and phones those work and can be used by consumers.
There is a fundamental difference between scientists, mathematicians, engineers and other professional experts using a particular language and the linguists, language professors and cognitive scientists who are experts in analysing the state of affairs and psychology of languages. Though interacting, but in each of the above two cases, the two situations are entirely different and primarily unrelated, as they are regarding the expertise in two entirely different fields, which may eventually aid each other in their progress, forming a feedback loop. Similarly, there is a fundamental difference between a child learning to speak an already existing language and a society developing a language, maintaining it and keeping it alive for future generations as a medium of communication as well as the means of cognition transfers. However, the ability of a child to learn and speak the language taught by his/her parents at home and/or teachers at school in itself is an evidence of cerebral endowment of the child. While a family dog or cat may have learnt the meaning of a few basic commands given in a particular language, they will never be able to learn and speak the language of the house in their entire lives. The reason is simple, biologically dogs and cats do not posses the required cerebral endowments to learn and speak human languages. For them, the question of developing a structured language, maintaining it and keeping it alive for future generations as a medium of communication as well as the means of cognition transfer may never arise. Therefore, a child learning to speak a language is a first major step in the journey of his/her cognitive development, which is initiated by his/her parents or guardians using a language they learnt from their parents or guardians. The level of success in the rest of the child's cognitive journey would depend on the availability of valid information and knowledge at that time and in that language, combined with the cerebral endowment of the child to acquire further new and advanced knowledge as he/she grows up. No cognition survives unless it is transferred to, or exchanged with, family members, friends, colleagues and/or other members of society, the same way the past generations did, forming a feedback loop, which is entirely of different nature than the two illustrated and mentioned above. Thus, it is the succession of cognition transfers that forms the foundation of cognitive development of a child; and all cognition transfers necessarily depend on the level of evolution of the language being used at the time, which itself depends on the cognitive and cerebral endowments of the past generations and the level of evolution of the language being used at that time. A fully grown-up human may have a priory knowledge of 5 + 7 = 12, but he/she may entirely lack the knowledge or ability to solve an algebraic equation, which a child of 12 or less may well be equipped to solve it simply because he/she learnt it at school. This is a clear example of cognition transfer, which is only possible through a structured language. More involved and advanced mathematical treatments, scientific works and other intellectually demanding professions will require advanced level of conceptual grasps that can be conceptualised and/or symbolised and then expressed for normal usage as well as for formal cognition transfers, which requires a language that is evolved enough to do just that. If the language is not evolved enough to serve that need, further refinement of the language is warranted. The society that does precisely that, reflects the cognitive and cerebral endowments of the society. However, the switching of a language to the one with rich vocabulary and in which more valid information and knowledge are available and that which aids in enhancing and acquiring new and advanced knowledge may play a major role in shifting the course of cognitive development of a society, as English did for the past generations of India, it currently does for the present generations and it may continue to serve that need for the future generations too, killing most Indian languages over the time. Perhaps, one more effort to understand and grasp the following may help to come out of the vicious spiral of false analogies, heavy reliance on fallacies and blunders. Normally; most people with average mental capacity hold language as nothing more than just a medium communication, which is true, only when it comes to the use of a language. But such perception is absolutely false when it comes to grasp the exact developmental and evolutionary course of the language. The notion, that language is nothing more than just a medium of communication, completely falls over when one closely examines the whole evolutionary process involved in the development of a language. The level of evolution of a language directly reflects the level of cognitive development of the people who developed that particular language. Here is some more light on the state of affairs between the cognitive endowments of the societies and the development of their languages: Society, Culture, Nation and such other words, encapsulate the concept of Civilisation, which consequently entails people or public as a whole. Public broadly divides into two groups: - Intellectuals and General Public or masses The Intellectual Group further divides into two governing categories: - Honest and Corrupt Similarly, the General Public also divides into two predominant categories: - Aware and Impetuous Though, it is normal to expect Intellectuals and General Public somewhere in the middle of the pertinent categories, the following analytical discussion is based on the undiluted, predominant categories listed above. For a civilisation to come into being and develop, interaction between the intellectuals and general public, no matter how significant or insignificant it may be, is inevitable and this is a fundamental ground upon which the formation of any society can be based. Based on the above four categories of human conducts, the following four sets of social interaction process that can take place among the people can be identified. Intellectuals -- General Public 1) Honest -- Aware 2) Honest -- Impetuous 3) Corrupt -- Aware 4) Corrupt -- Impetuous The quality of such interaction may change over time. Nonetheless, it is essentially a very slow process and it takes several generations for a society to identify requisite changes for improvements and advancement in the state of affairs of language development, which is essentially achieved by the quality of the operative feedback loops. The process begins with some sort of communication between the people. In order to establish any communication, the invention and use of languages was only natural and logical course. For a language to be comprehensible and intelligible to all people involved, the development and grasp of various concepts that could provide means for common mental representations of people, places, objects, events, situations, activities; and other concrete and abstracts terms are absolutely essential. Thus, concepts form the basic building blocks of human thoughts and then become the foundation of mental categories, which people use for classification, in evaluating information, in making decisions and then act accordingly. This way, concepts get firmly planted in language and in turn the entire process forms a strong psychological bond between concept formation and evolution of the language. Thus: - The power of language reflects people’s ability to form clear and strong concepts, which in turn depends on the quality of interaction process that is operative among the group of people at a given period of time-frame. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the quality of cognitive endowments of the society that speaks that language. - Language forms the fundamental base of human cognitive process, which develops and evolves over generations and centuries depending on the existing communicable thoughts and knowledge. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the level of progress and advancement of the society. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the quality of interaction among the various members of the society in question. The following are the representative examples of the developmental courses of four societies based upon the evolution of their languages 1) Honest -- Aware Concepts: - Clear Language: - Evolved Cognitive Process: - Actualising Society: - Developed Feedback: - Generative 2) Honest -- Impetuous Concepts: - Cogent Language: - Developed Cognitive Process: - Effective Society: - Latent Feedback: - Restorative 3) Corrupt -- Aware Concepts: - Vague Language: - Deceptive Cognitive Process: - Pretentious Society: - Crippled Feedback: - Restorative 4) Corrupt -- Impetuous Concepts: - Weak Language: - Slender Cognitive Process: - Obscured Society: - Backward Feedback: - Degenerative It should not put too much of a strain on the peoples' minds wanting to conclude where both of these languages; in fact, any of the 26 or so Indian languages stand, not in terms of the number of their speakers, but in terms of their abilities to serve the demands and sophistication required in the communication needs of today and future. In nutshell, the information and knowledge generated by the distant past generations, when utilised, enhanced, refined and added to by the cerebral endowments of the past generations, generating information and knowledge that essentially reflected the cognitive endowments of the past generations, which became the foundation of cognitive development for present generations. Similarly, the information and knowledge generated by present generations, when utilised, enhanced, refined and added to by the cerebral endowments of future generations, generating information and knowledge that would essentially reflect the cognitive endowments of future generations, which would become the foundation of cognitive development for the generations of remote future. The mechanism by which such transfers of refined, new and advanced cognition can take place is through a language that evolves with time and keeps pace with the changing communication demands and/or needs of the time. An utter absence of such a language reflects the prevalent lack and/or heedless suppression of cognitive and cerebral endowments of society.
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01-21-2007, 07:18 AM
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#33 |
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I am getting terribly frightened when I read some of the most cognitively degenerated, ignorant, distorted, disoriented and pretentious posts about the past Indian achievements in science, technology and mathematics, when there have been no real evidences of recognised cognitive outgrowth of Indians in any of the stated fields. Except a few isolated cases.
In order to embrace even the spur of an idea of achievements of a society in any field, the existence of some real evidences of the true cognitive developmental state of the society is absolutely necessary. And the true developmental state of any society gets reflected in its sustained ability in timely realising of intrusions of undesired and corrupting binding factors in the system that would certainly drag the growth of entire society. On the contrary, There is not a single credible reason why Indians could not apply the wealth of the claimed Indian knowledge in advancing the human development of Indian people when the West has evidently done so. The evolution of all Indian languages remained ceased for centuries and have no chance of any recovery. Today, Indians have no choice but to keep relying on English language for their education and receiving recognised professional qualifications. Today, India anxiously looks towards the West for new research works and technologies. Today, India is heavily dependent on the literature in English language for information and knowledge in those advanced fields. Today, India is heavily dependent on English language for acquiring new and advanced knowledge in almost all advanced fields. India is heavily dependent on Russian and other foreign technologies for its military and defence equipment needs. India is heavily dependent on foreign technologies for its needs of commercial, scientific, engineering, domestic and household gears. Most educated and modern Indians have abandoned their original Indian way of life and happily adopted the western way of life. There are so many logical and obvious questions that have more negative answers than they have positive. Yet there exists an abundance of Indian imbeciles who sincerely believe in those fabricated and twisted allegories, fallacies and blunders, constructed by a few heedless charlatans. But when one asks these charlatans, why couldn't we Indians apply this knowledge for our own development? In reply, they become absolutely mute. Perhaps the entire Indian population was suffering from sever Amnesia or Alzheimer's disease; and as a result, no Indian could remember the mathematics, science and technologies, invented by the past Indian generations; and transfer the cognition to the successive generations. Maybe the ancient Indians had serious problems in documenting their works; but then, it generates serious disparity, as no one could ever claim anything about it. Furthermore; how come the whole of India and her massive population of hundreds of millions of Indians became slaves to a few foreign invaders even when Indians were 2000:1 strong against the invaders? So, no amount of false rationalisation could ever account for such dismal and opprobrious records of Indian impetuousness. Only a complete blockhead would absorb such make-believe allegories, heedlessly discharged by the impostors. Or maybe, these impostors are just prompting the rest of the Indians to jog their minds rather than memories.  
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01-23-2007, 08:34 AM
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#34 |
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However, the ability of a child to learn and speak the language taught by his/her parents at home and/or teachers at school in itself is an evidence of cerebral endowment of the child. While a family dog or cat may have learnt the meaning of a few basic commands given in a particular language, they will never be able to learn and speak the language of the house in their entire lives. The reason is simple, biologically dogs and cats do not posses the required cerebral endowments to learn and speak human languages. For them, the question of developing a structured language, maintaining it and keeping it alive for future generations as a medium of communication as well as the means of cognition transfer may never arise. It is true that the ability to "speak" may be taken as a valid measure of limited cognitive development. However, cognitive development is a rather superflous term here; a more precise term might be cognitive processes . According to Wikepedia, these cognitive processes include "memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving and mental imagery." Now, enhanced language skills might aid one's memory, attention, perception and mental imagery. Problem-solving is a dfferent matter. Alreadty neurological science has drawn the conclusion that the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for such endowments as reading, writing, and oral communication (all of which are based on a firm grasp of language . However, the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for abstract problem-solving. So very clearly one can see that [b] simply acquiring language skills by themselves does not in any way, except perhaps at the barest minimum - which would be crude memory at best (one could remember in one's native language as opposed to a foreign tounge) - does not increase one's skill in approaching logical problems. There is a simple reason for this. Common language by itself is simply too imprecise. The languages utilized by science and mathematics require the utilization of the left hemisphere of the brain . Some might even take exception with the use of the term "language" in the latter regard. Mathematics, at the pure level, has more to do with identifying patterns. The pattern is independant of any language description. G.H. Hardy says that these patterns create their own reality. By looking at the extreme case of the autistic savant (http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/st...409903,00.html) one can see that is indeed true.
If there is any reason to write anything down in mathematics, it has to do with the limited memory of humans, as well as the fact that mathematics serves a practical function as well. Science, of course, is largely applied mathematics. The utilization of mathematics is there simply to ensure consistency. Therefore, a child learning to speak a language is a first major step in the journey of his/her cognitive development, which is initiated by his/her parents or guardians using a language they learnt from their parents or guardians. The level of success in the rest of the child's cognitive journey would depend on the availability of valid information and knowledge at that time and in that language, combined with the cerebral endowment of the child to acquire further new and advanced knowledge as he/she grows up. No cognition survives unless it is transferred to, or exchanged with, family members, friends, colleagues and/or other members of society, the same way the past generations did, forming a feedback loop, which is entirely of different nature than the two illustrated and mentioned above. Again, cognitive is too broad a term. One must refer to the specific cognitive process within the following: memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving and mental imagery. I have already made the case that simply acquiring language skills will not in any way improve one's reasoning (logical) abilities. Only experience at pattern identification and pattern manipulation, both of which require no language skills whatsoever, will improve one's logical abilities. An excellent example is Stephen Hawking. Before the onset of illness, Hawking had refined his problem-solving skills (by problem-solving I mean mathematical and scientific ability) to such a tremendous extent, that when his ability to communicate with others was severely curtailed, his ability to reason nevertheless remained intact. Yet more proof that the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere serve two distinctly different functions, and that language is no barrier to the function of the left hemisphere. Thus, it is the succession of cognition transfers that forms the foundation of cognitive development of a child; and all cognition transfers necessarily depend on the level of evolution of the language being used at the time, which itself depends on the cognitive and cerebral endowments of the past generations and the level of evolution of the language being used at that time. The evolution of common, crude imprecise language that by modern standards, decades of education serve to rectify. A grown-up human may have a priory knowledge of 5 + 7 = 12, but he/she may entirely lack the knowledge or ability to solve an algebraic equation, which a child of 12 or less may well be equipped to solve it simply because he/she learnt it at school. The cognitive process being exploited here is memory. This is a clear example of cognition transfer, which is only possible through a structured language. One does not need necessarily need a language to count. Counting is probably an instinctual process. Example, if a female dinosaur had five eggs in the nest, she will know she has four eggs in the nest. If seven more eggs are laid, she will know she has twelve eggs in the nest. I doubt if the dinosaur is capable of any "structured language", however I am sure she will notice if an egg is missing. More involved and advanced mathematical treatments, scientific works and other intellectually demanding professions will require advanced level of conceptual grasps that can be conceptualised and/or symbolised and then expressed for normal usage as well as for formal cognition transfers, which requires a language that is evolved enough to do just that. If the language is not evolved enough to serve that need, further refinement of the language is warranted. The society that does precisely that, reflects the cognitive and cerebral endowments of the society. It was more likely the evolution of the left hemisphere of the brain, as opposed to the right hemisphere of the brain, that is responsible for the increase in cognition, as per the most primitive man, compared with successive lines of his descendants. Primitive man will understand that rubbing two sticks together will create enough friction to start a fire. He may also possess such mental capacity to attempt the same with other materials (refine the process). However, it is unlikely that primitive man cared why or how the fire was started; he was indifferent to any molecular structure, neither did he concieve of producing fire on a large scale. Neither did he to think to write the manner of producing the fire, as it was such a simple process. Only successive lines of his descendants accomplished this feat, based largely on evolution of the left hemisphere of the brain. [/quote] However, the switching of a language to the one with rich vocabulary and in which more valid information and knowledge are available and that which aids in enhancing and acquiring new and advanced knowledge may play a major role in shifting the course of cognitive development of a society, as English did for the past generations of India, it currently does for the present generations and it may continue to serve that need for the future generations too, killing most Indian languages over the time. Language is as much a cultural phenomenon as it is a measure of cognitive development. It can be said that in like anywhere else for a long time, education was restricted to a select few. The rise of free public education has only been made possible as a result of mass-scale industrialization. I fail to see any shift in cognitive development, other than the use of a computer, which most jobs require these days. Despite the advent of free public education, the vast majority of any total non-homogenous population do not pursue lucrative professions, which, incidentally, require high levels of problem-solving skills, e.g. engineering and medicine. The majority simply learn an array of specialized skills (book-keeping, power-point presentation, etc.) that are not very different from what they might have pursued before the advent of free education). What is the difference between a farmer keeping track of his crop yield, and deciding how much to sell at the market, than an accountant or broker? The average individual who goes to university to study accounting or become a broker does so largely to become familiar with the situations he may encounter. In theory, he could learn all such skills at the job itself; however, it is more cost-efficient for a large bank or corporation if this individual has a theoretical idea of what he will encounter (and possible solutions) while on the job. Now, there is nothing wrong with these professions. However, I am simply saying that if the introduction of English made such a vast impact on the cognitive development of the total population, then the great majority should be pursuing lucrative fields that promise high dividends, as that makes the most economic sense. Of course, the tacit assumption is that this "cognitive development" would include problem-solving (reasoning and logic skills), which I do not think is the case. For a civilisation to come into being and develop, interaction between the intellectuals and general public, no matter how significant or insignificant it may be, is inevitable and this is a fundamental ground upon which the formation of any society can be based. Based on the above four categories of human conducts, the following four sets of social interaction process that can take place among the people can be identified. That is not the case at all. As I have already stated, modern public education is a very new development. No ancient civilization that I am aware of had any system in place in which all were required to go to school. - The power of language reflects people’s ability to form clear and strong concepts, which in turn depends on the quality of interaction process that is operative among the group of people at a given period of time-frame. The interaction process is not necessary, although it can be beneficial. Many of the greatest ideas simply arise spontaneously, as a result of sub-conscious pondering. - The level of evolution of language directly reflects the quality of cognitive endowments of the society that speaks that language. The vast majority of the population of any civilization contribute nothing to any famous achievements that that civilization may be responsible for. This is true of the ancient times as well as the present. It is simply a fact that most people, to a certain level, prefer to avoid abstraction. Whether the abstraction is in the form of a poem or a complex mathematical theorem. - Language forms the fundamental base of human cognitive process, which develops and evolves over generations and centuries depending on the existing communicable thoughts and knowledge. What the modern educational system has shown is that the brain, at least not yet, is not necessarily wired for abstract thinking, but must usually be trained for such a task. Simply learning to read and write does not do the job. |
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01-23-2007, 10:57 AM
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#35 |
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Cognitive Development is the end result and Cognitive Process, which is partly innate/inherited and partly acquired through formal or informal education, study and personal experiences, is what goes into achieving that end result. And those abilities, which are innate or inherited are too, in a way, acquired. Usually, only a small fractional part of innate/inherited abilities are decided by the biological factors of individuals.
For example: 1) Without the avilibility of previous works in Atomic theory and the knowledge of the existence of electrons discovered by J.J. Thomson, and the existence of Atomic Nucleus, discovered by Ernest Rutherford, Neils Bohar would not have succeeded in developing his Atomic Model and won the Nobel Prize; and the successive scientists would not have succeeded in refining that model to its current form and also won the Nobel Prizes. 2) Without the previous published and recorded works of previous generations of scientists in physics, atomic theory and particle theory, the solid-state physics would not have reached the maturity that it has and no electronics and digital revolutions would have taken place as we all are witnessing, giving routine examples of the role computers play in our daily lives. 3) Without the availibity of published results of Michelson Morley's experiment, Einstein would not have succeeded in developing his theory of Special Relativity and subsequently the General Theory of Relativity. 4) Without the recorded information and knowledge of previous works on blackbody radiation, Plank would not have succeeded in developing the foundation of Quantum Theory, which won him the Nobel Prize. 5) Without the knowledge of Plank's Quantum Theory, Einstein would not have succeeded in explaining Photoelectric Effect, which won him the Nobel Prize. These are just an infinitesimally small number of examples in a small number of fields, signifying the importance of succession of cognition transfers in those fields, which require a well-developed language that undeniably plays a decisive role in the cognitive development of a society. That is why the term Cognitive Development encompasses the human developmental process in its broadest sense, with language playing a significantly important role in that process. Culture broadly encompasses "The way of thinking" and "The way of doing things" of a society, which says it all about the overall developmemtal phase of a society, its language or languages and the state they achieve as the result of it. A priory knowledge of 5 + 7 = 12 of a human being is identical to the instinctive knowledge of a female animal knowing how many eggs she had laid; and that is why it is termed as 'a priory knowledge'. Therefore, it is not necessary that the identifier and solver of a problem need be the same person. A problem may have been identified, known or existed for a long time, even as long as a few generations, without a solution due to lack of necessary theoretical and/or technological advances in the field and/or due to lack of insight altogether. However, when someone finds the solution to the same old problem, long time after it was first identified, it may well appear so easy and simple. And there are plenty of such examples in mathematics, science and engineering in general and in many other fields having anthropological significance. Some examples of this are listed above. Here, the crucial and deciding factor is simply the contingency of solution on time dependent evolution of cognition. Yes, the brain is not wired for all types of abstract thinking, but it acquires such ability through education, experience and study. However, there are elements of cerebral endowments, which are innate and responsible for some becoming inborn genius at very young ages. Nonetheless, the overall Cognitive Process becomes more efficient under right environmental conditions. That is why, both 'nature' and 'nurture' play equally important roles in one's cognitive development; and the richness of language used to transfer those information and knowledge plays a major role in deciding the final outcome of one's cognitive development. Therefore, given the two identical brains, the one, which is trained through education and study in a richer language, would far outperform the one that is neither trained through education and study nor has access to information and knowledge that the former has, which, as the cosequence, would predominantly decide the quality of experiences the individuals would go through. History provides undeniable evidences and records of this undeniable fact.
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01-25-2007, 01:31 PM
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#36 |
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These are just an infinitesimally small number of examples in a small number of fields, signifying the importance of succession of cognition transfers in those fields, which require a well-developed language that undeniably plays a decisive role in the cognitive development of a society. Undeniably, a well-developed language will play some role (the degree will vary) in the "cognitive development" of certain individuals. In the case of the greater mass of a given population, this role will be insignificant. As I have said, within certain parameters, although volumes of information are available at lightning speed on virtually any subject, most individuals are content to choose a mediocre profession. By mediocre, I am referring solely to salary, the choice of a high salary obviously referring to sound economic sense. Clearly, the availability of information, irrespective of language, does not correspond to an increase in certain cognitive capabilities, particularly reasoning and problem-solving skills, as seen in the decline of educational standards in the UK and North America since the advent of the Internet. On the other hand, India and China are producing engineers at an astonishing rate in proportion to the industrialized West. India is already a nuclear power; its "third-world" status will vanish in a few decades.
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01-25-2007, 01:31 PM
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#37 |
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These are just an infinitesimally small number of examples in a small number of fields, signifying the importance of succession of cognition transfers in those fields, which require a well-developed language that undeniably plays a decisive role in the cognitive development of a society. Undeniably, a well-developed language will play some role (the degree will vary) in the "cognitive development" of certain individuals. In the case of the greater mass of a given population, this role will be insignificant. As I have said, within certain parameters, although volumes of information are available at lightning speed on virtually any subject, most individuals are content to choose a mediocre profession. By mediocre, I am referring solely to salary, the choice of a high salary obviously referring to sound economic sense. Clearly, the availability of information, irrespective of language, does not correspond to an increase in certain cognitive capabilities, particularly reasoning and problem-solving skills, as seen in the decline of educational standards in the UK and North America since the advent of the Internet. On the other hand, India and China are producing engineers at an astonishing rate in proportion to the industrialized West. India is already a nuclear power; its "third-world" status will vanish in a few decades.
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01-25-2007, 01:31 PM
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#38 |
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These are just an infinitesimally small number of examples in a small number of fields, signifying the importance of succession of cognition transfers in those fields, which require a well-developed language that undeniably plays a decisive role in the cognitive development of a society. Undeniably, a well-developed language will play some role (the degree will vary) in the "cognitive development" of certain individuals. In the case of the greater mass of a given population, this role will be insignificant. As I have said, within certain parameters, although volumes of information are available at lightning speed on virtually any subject, most individuals are content to choose a mediocre profession. By mediocre, I am referring solely to salary, the choice of a high salary obviously referring to sound economic sense. Clearly, the availability of information, irrespective of language, does not correspond to an increase in certain cognitive capabilities, particularly reasoning and problem-solving skills, as seen in the decline of educational standards in the UK and North America since the advent of the Internet. On the other hand, India and China are producing engineers at an astonishing rate in proportion to the industrialized West. India is already a nuclear power; its "third-world" status will vanish in a few decades.
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01-26-2007, 11:32 AM
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#39 |
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Initially,
Language does not reflect a society's cognitive development, nor the cognitive development of a human being, except in a limited evolutionary sense. Anyone who has done programming understands that language is merely syntax. Now, I have said language is merely syntax. Common language by itself is simply too imprecise. Then, The evolution of common, crude imprecise language that by modern standards, decades of education serve to rectify. Language is as much a cultural phenomenon as it is a measure of cognitive development. However, the structure underlying that language may require enormous amounts of mental ability to grasp. Now, enhanced language skills might aid one's memory, attention, perception and mental imagery. And now, Undeniably, a well-developed language will play some role (the degree will vary) in the cognitive development of certain individuals. The above quoted specific statements, in three specific parts, clearly show a gradual shift from a heedless complete denial to a reasonable acceptance of the undeniable fact that a well-developed language undeniably plays an important and decisive role in the cognitive development of society. Gladly, the discussion so far has successfully yielded one more individual from the state of complete denial to the state of acceptance of the undeniable fact. This is more than sufficient, irrespective of the incorrect demarcation of the degree and the number of individuals involved, as it is equally applicable to all societies. Given identical spread of human abilities, those 'certain' individuals would translate into a percentage of the population of a society, which should be the same for all societies; and therefore, a society with larger population should produce more number of those 'certain' individuals than a society with a smaller population. Therefore, given identical human abilities, the scenario should result in equal cognitive developmental growth of all societies, which was not, and is not, the case. Why? The answer to this is as follows. Society, by its very nature, is a dynamic system. And like any dynamic system, whose response depends on its initial conditions, the developmental course of a society is also governed by its initial conditions set by the initial world-view adopted by the society, which essentially depends upon the quality of apprehension and interpretation of the reality around them. The world-view adopted thus, essentially sets the course of "The way of thinking" and "The way of doing things" of the society, which sets the course of their language and/or languages and thus the course of their Cognitive Process. The Cognitive Process set up thus; sets the path of the society's cognitive journey; which also sets the beginning of the accumulation of the society's Cognitive Endowments. Since, Cognitive Endowment is an accumulated, intangible wealth of a society; the rate at which such wealth is accumulated would depend on the rate at which new and diverse valid, rational and logical cognition in all conceivable and possible real fields is acquired. The rest is as explained in my first post, which was also pepeated again recently, about the develomental courses of the four types of societies. Please go back to that post, read it again, considering as it is inserted here as continuation of what has been said above, to grasp the essece of mechanism and dynamics involved in the developmental process of human societies. Like any dynamic system, an injection of the new input or the component changes or modifies the legacy of its initial conditions and enhances its performance, the shift of language to a richer and well-developed one, is more likely to change the course of Cognitive Process and thus the Cognitive Development of the society. Therefore, the degree and percentage by which a well-developed language could enhance the Cognitive Process and thus the Cognitive Development of a society would greatly depend on the percentage of people coming out of the held fixed and narrow world-view and adopting a relatively flexible and broader world-view expressible in the new language, which reflects "The way of thinking" and "The way of doing things" of a different, but developed society.
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