Language and the internet

Language evolves. The pace of the evolution is dependent on the frequency of its use. For much of its history, the written word has followed behind the spoken tongue. Widespread use of words in text was almost always preceeded by the prior understanding of the word by the audience. However, the birth of the printing press was the first step towards a change in this behavior.  As influential works by pioneers spread across the masses, their thoughts and understanding of the world were conveyed through the use of specific terminology which then became their accepted meaning. Terms like "Big brother" from 1984 and "Quixote" from Don Quixote altered the fabric of language as these words were first put in print before seeing widespread use in the the spoken language. Language was now arbitered by the publishers of books, and the spoken language was judged by its proximity to the written word. This forced homogeniety of language, while limiting the natural diversity of language, allowed for rapid collaboration among people with diverse abilities and knowledge and generated rapid growth.


The Internet changes this idea of having a single narrative of language. With the barriers to being a published writer being broken, and every person with a basic computer and the internet being capable of posting online, the written word has returned to being emblematic of the spoken language with one important difference. While earlier, the spread of language was limited by area, due to limited opportunists of travel,  language in the hyper-connected present is limited by specialization. The evolution of specialized jargon which was earlier the mark of a highly technical field has now turned commonplace in every discussion. Nowhere is this more apparent than Reddit, a massive forum with millions of users and diverse discussions in specialised subforums. Going from one subforum to another oftentimes requires learning the jargon used in that subcommunity, even though it would have been possible to communicate the idea in reqular english, the necessity of rapid written communication forces the development of new jargon.

The bitcoin boom a year ago, and the consequent buzz generated caused a rapid increase in the use of the cryptocurrency subreddit and drove the evolution of previously unheard of jargon in under an year. Anybody who uses wishes to understand any of the discussions on this subreddit now has to spend a while figuring what words like "hodl" means.

 

The evolution of jargon at such a rapid pace, with no single body to assimilate and comprehend the variety of changes is reminiscent of the earlier natural evolution of language, with physical area being replaced by human-made mental separations. This poses the same hindrance to communication that was present before the formation of a single widespread language. A biologist talking to a physicist today would spend several hours describing the jargon of their fields before being able to collaborate on any problem. An electrician having to do the same when talking to an architect would only slow the progress of developing new ideas. While websites like urban dictionary exist to allow us to rapidly lookup the jargon used, it is also necessary for us to prevent the diversification of language to a point where talking to people outside your specialization takes undue use of time.

Biomimetics: A revolution in thinking

For the last few millennia, we humans have thought of our species as being the sole species capable of intelligence, the only species to study the world around us and devising methods of exploiting physics to achieve our end goals. We always assumed that being the most successful species, there was nothing we could learn from the natural world, that all we could do was to be the benevolent caretaker of the lesser species in the wild.
While older religions revered the natural world and considered themselves a part of the natural order. Animals and other life was considered to be at least as sacred as human life, and feared for the horrors nature could inflict on the unprepared populace. However, most religions which originated in the last few millennia placed humans front and center, as being the sole beings on whom the weight of the world is placed, either as beings made in the image of god, or as the only beings with a soul and a divine right to rule. This was reflected in the gross overuse of natural resources and the mistreatment and abuse of animals for human gain. Human superiority over other life was taken for granted and science was focused on the study of the abstract, the knowledge of the functioning of the universe, and the self. Natural forces were tamed and electricity was used to empower civilization before the gaze turned once again at the natural world. The study of animals was limited to finding better ways of exploiting them.

However, over the last few decades, there has been a remarkable transition in our approach to studying animals, and science in general. New ideas are being developed, not based on the abstract thoughts of man, but by observing animals and insects in nature. Scientists see things in nature that they wouldn't imagine possible in their wildest dreams, and try mimicking this behavior only to discover a previously unknown niche in the laws they thought they'd already fully understood. Animals are no longer studied just to better methods of exploiting them but to better understand them and how amazing they are at using physics, and how numerous are the forms of intelligence that can exist in the natural world.

The Beginning: Again

It's been a few years now since I moved to a new country, and the bookmark of this blog on my homepage is a constant reminder that I've barely written anything in the last two year. I started writing this blog as a means to help me clarify and critique my thoughts and opinions on my experiences and on ideas that i come across.

However, the last two years have left me gasping for breath as a whirlwind of events have left me in a country a few thousands of kilometers from my own, pursuing a PhD in an environment at once strange and familiar. Never more have i needed this outlet and never before have i had less time for it.

However, in the quest of finding a semblance of order in my thinking, i shall pen down my thoughts, however arbitrary and wayward they are for the next few weeks.

With that said, i look at my fellow bloggers and applaud their dedication and ability to keep writing, through thick and thin, through times that require them to stay up nights to write, through writer's blocks that make them  feel like bidding adieu to it all and cozying up with a book. Keep at it folks! You're an inspiration to the rest of us.