What Are You Reading Now?

[old_gregg]

Tell me when you’re done so I can ask.

also, i think the book is mostly about this: https://nautil.us/the-kekul-problem-236574/

[SteelBlue]

also, i think the book is mostly about this: https://nautil.us/the-kekul-problem-236574/

I have to work right now, but just perusing that I can't wait to dive in.

[SeattleUte]

Is Western the Passenger?

[old_gregg]

Is Western the Passenger?

interesting question.

[SteelBlue]

That article is really interesting. I'll be thinking about this bit for a while.

The sort of isolation that gave us tall and short and light and dark and other variations in our species was no protection against the advance of language. It crossed mountains and oceans as if they werent there. Did it meet some need? No. The other five thousand plus mammals among us do fine without it. But useful? Oh yes. We might further point out that when it arrived it had no place to go. The brain was not expecting it and had made no plans for its arrival. It simply invaded those areas of the brain that were the least dedicated. I suggested once in conversation at the Santa Fe Institute that language had acted very much like a parasitic invasion and David Krakauer—our president—said that the same idea had occurred to him. Which pleased me a good deal because David is very smart. This is not to say of course that the human brain was not in any way structured for the reception of language. Where else would it go? If nothing else we have the evidence of history. The difference between the history of a virus and that of language is that the virus has arrived by way of Darwinian selection and language has not. The virus comes nicely machined. Offer it up. Turn it slightly. Push it in. Click. Nice fit. But the scrap heap will be found to contain any number of viruses that did not fit.There is no selection at work in the evolution of language because language is not a biological system and because there is only one of them. The ur-language of linguistic origin out of which all languages have evolved.

[Pelado]

That article is really interesting. I'll be thinking about this bit for a while.

I liked his mentioning being pleased with smart people (David, George) liking his ideas.

[SeattleUte]

interesting question.

His finding the tracks of the Passenger on that remote island seemed a little too easy.

[SteelBlue]

My copy of Stella Maris arrived today. Excited to get started but also kind of bummed that it’s likely the last McCarthy novel.

[SteelBlue]

I'm reading Stella Maris but taking my time. Brush up on your Kant and Wittgenstein

[BigPiney]

I'm reading Stella Maris but taking my time. Brush up on your Kant and Wittgenstein

Sounds terrible.

i just finished HHhH. Interesting part of history I did not know about. The writing was weird, kind of meta, breaking the 4th wall type of thing.

[SteelBlue]

Sounds terrible.

i just finished HHhH. Interesting part of history I did not know about. The writing was weird, kind of meta, breaking the 4th wall type of thing.

You flew past me. I'm at about 30% on it. I knew absolutely nothing about it either and I've found it to be an interesting read. I can see why SU said he hated it but so far I kind of like its weirdness.

[BigPiney]

You flew past me. I'm at about 30% on it. I knew absolutely nothing about it either and I've found it to be an interesting read. I can see why SU said he hated it but so far I kind of like its weirdness.

I got the audiobook from the library. And I’ve been running a lot. 33 miles this week is a lot of listening time. I just happened to finish another book last week, so it got bumped up the schedule.

[Pelado]

I got the audiobook from the library. And I’ve been running a lot. 33 miles this week is a lot of listening time. I just happened to finish another book last week, so it got bumped up the schedule.

I'll bet 33 miles for you doesn't take nearly as long as it does for me to run.

[BigPiney]

I'll bet 33 miles for you doesn't take nearly as long as it does for me to run.

Imagine all the books you could listen to.

[Pelado]

Imagine all the books you could listen to.

I'd deplete the Smithsonian.