Xain, I scanned the sites but did not find anything about “how a tribe had language that broke the traditional rules of what we think language is.”
I would like to see specifically what was said.
Also how much of what we engage in today isn’t natural at all for us: seeking status and ego striving, romantic relationships, God’s, etc.
You’re sliding back to your old ways Xian. All questions. No thinking.
http://www.fearofnature.com/dont-sleep-there-are-snakes-d-everett
This is the language one I mentioned.
http://www.fearofnature.com/escape-from-freedom-e-fromm
This is more about how technology has out paced us and how we try to escape from freedom.
The language one I believe refers to how the tribe has little egoic and self absorbed statements unlike our own language
Lausten: “Fine. You’ve hinted at what actions you think are appropriate. You say you only pay taxes at gun point. I assume you drive on the roads, perhaps even enjoy a park now and then. Do you remove all the safety equipment from your car? Do you inspect your food yourself? Do you pay directly for people with guns to protect you, or do you rely on the police and military?”
Great! Lets make taxes voluntary. Sure, that will work. The size of each person’s contribution will demonstrate his commitment to our spending plans. I’m sure many will send you a nice card thanking you for funding their entitlements. Entitlement and defense spending for one year would fund infrastructure, science and agriculture for two decades.
I saw in some travel magazine a while back that one acre in twenty of South Carolina’s roads is covered with roads, bridges and parking lots. Also, South Carolina’s deer population is greater now than it was before the European invasion. I’m sure the deer who survive the traffic think that there has been much progress. I’m sure the auto makers think our dependence on cars is great progress.
You will have to ask the brothers about how well they are protected from the police. That we are putting more brothers and police in jail is a sure sign of progress. The public’s demonstration of how well they think they are protected is shown by gun sales.
If I could I would have not one uniformed US service man or woman on foreign soil. We cannot give people freedom. If a man or woman wants to be free he or she must be willing to fight and maybe die for it. We cannot build nations for others; we haven’t done that great a job of building our own. If we must respond to a real threat outside our borders, send missiles not our young people. (I’ll bet that last sentence will stir up a storm.) I value all the nation building we have tried to do since VJ day less than any one of the thousands of lives lost doing it. The USA ceasing to be the world’s policeman would be real progress.
Stop derailing the topic bob
It seems like they insist that these people in the amazon are better off because of they way their language shapes their understanding of the world, without any sort of ego striving or self absorption.
Also, South Carolina’s deer population is greater now than it was before the European invasion.That was a pretty amazing evasion of the question.
The human population is greater now than it was before the European invasion. Way way back, life for the American natives was indeed much better than today.
The deer population exceeded the human population. No scarcity of food and natural resources in those days. And plenty of time for celebration.
Can we get back to the link about language.
Thanks, Xain, From the site you gave:
“The Piraha (pronounced pee-da-HAN) live along the Maici River in the Amazon Rainforest. They are known as having a language which challenges long held Chomskyan “universal grammar” principles (mainly the concept of recursion - sentences within sentences).”
Chomsky was a self serving hype-ster of his own theories about language. I am not surprised that there are examples in the world that don’t fit with his “universal grammar” hypothetical construct.
It seems to me that the fundamentally different culture of the Piraha is what makes them less “ego striving and less self absorbed” than typical cultures.
Their verbal behavior which (as does all verbal behavior) develops functionally. It was probably more effected by their culture than vice a versa as the language developed. Though now, language/culture are part of a whole, one influenced by the other.
But I guess that the way they were trying to frame it was that it was better.
That without all the striving and egoism that they are happier and better off. Without all the self absorbed “junk” and all that. Trying to drive the point home that humans were better before all this.
It goes into more detail the deeper on in the link
The acquisition of “stuff” is the main cause for “unhappiness”
George Carlin put this in perspective.
It’s not really the acquisition of stuff but just striving in general. That we are broken from an early age due to “degraded childcare practices”. As referenced in the original OP and these other links
Xain: “It’s not really the acquisition of stuff but just striving in general.”
It seems to me that you are decrying civilization.
Stay on topic bob, you keep derailing my thread
I think that block quote mentioned something about how nothing was a big deal to them because everything was a big deal.
If we had the option to go to a life, “way way” back, would we? If we got there and didn’t like it, could we come back here?