Wittgenstein had a saying about “die Grenzen meiner Sprache”, namely that these correspond to “die Grenzen meiner Welt”. [1] In my not-so humble opinion, this quote misses something very fundamental about language: that it does not exist in any “particular individual” (see also the previous post, “Self Mythology“). Language is a technology that exists between… Continue reading The further on I go, the less I know
Self Mythology
This week a person near and dear to me used a particular term in a rather peculiar way … which I feel is at least odd, which I do not subscribe to, and which also seems confusing and misguided (from my point of view). Yet I cannot call it “wrong“, judging by what I can… Continue reading Self Mythology
Swarming Around
On the verge of solstice [1], let’s consider time some more. Amidst the bees buzzing around here and there, ideas have also been swarming around in my mind. First and foremost: it seems like swarms never die. Individuals die, swarms live on forever (more or less). Sure, extinction will do in a swarm, but isn’t… Continue reading Swarming Around
Lifetime Guarantee for How Natural Languages Scale
In the last episode, we looked at a few different scales — implicitly, from technology and product life cycles, through writing, biology and genetic information all the way across the universe back to the Big Bang itself. Seen this way, the irony of seeing writing and written langages as something permanent becomes crystal clear. Perhaps… Continue reading Lifetime Guarantee for How Natural Languages Scale
Rates of Evolution
Evolution is often thought of as a single thing. Yet’s it’s not even a thing at all — it’s a phenomenon, a figment of our imaginations, one way that we interpret the world we live in. It is perhaps one of our most abstract scientific concepts. At the same time, no one even just somewhat… Continue reading Rates of Evolution
Mainstreaming vs. Mass Throttling
This week I am very much under the influence of a few podcasts which address (or “report” on) topics I find fascinating, yet which are not directly in the “wheelhouse” of my interests. The topics covered, while somewhat similar, seem rather unconnected (apart from both being related to my own interest in such topics as… Continue reading Mainstreaming vs. Mass Throttling
Motivational Characteristics of Marketplace Participants
I have thought about issues related to “Motivational Characteristics of Marketplace Participants” for quite some time already. Although that title is already quite long, I think I need to narrow down what I intend to write about today even more. I want to contrast two instances of marketplaces — one from the past, the other… Continue reading Motivational Characteristics of Marketplace Participants
There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute
In some circles, this saying is very well-known. In most circles, almost everyone will deny ever maintaining it. This saying is so renowned that it has its own page @ wikipedia.org … which indicates that its origins can most probably be traced to the languages of gamblers and con artists. [1] I have for many… Continue reading There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute
Free Speech & Market Speech
I have been mulling over one of my long-held beliefs a lot lately … and the big puzzle for me is: why do so few people get it? I think the answer is a combination of several things — and that is a big part of why it seems to be complex, not simple, not… Continue reading Free Speech & Market Speech
Group Pride
Elvis was sick. Marilyn was sick. Dorothy was sick. Adolf was very very sick. They all became heroes in their times. [1] How reliable was the Oracle at Delphi? Did anyone maintain statistics about the reliability (and / or the validity) of this technology? Oh, wait a second — modern scientific methods had not been… Continue reading Group Pride
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