🚀 go-pugleaf

What-If no written language ?
A decade ago "Science" had a heavily illustrated article on medieval 
waterwheels - how these were gradually improved, and communication about 
improvements were done with drawings, not text.

This was the craddle of Newcomen's sensational steam engine (and 
Papin's).
Soon followed Watt, whose thinking included far less innovation 
but he had 1. an alliance with investor Boulton 
2. latin and math knowledge, and feeling of what was the new learned 
establishment's TASTE.
By inventing a physical UNIT : "horsepower" (making comparisons of 
different machines slightly easier), he became the "Founder of 
Industrialism" to the history books.
Galilaei and Renaissance had said "Measurement is next to godliness".

If  no or less writing, tecknology had leaped faster and higher, 
and female suppression of minds: 
gossip, neurosis, psychosis, taste, rank, racism, politics had become 
small matters, 
relative to what is seen and felt and sold and bought.

A more happy world. More like Japan. This is no suggestion of any 
revolution. Japan is damned boring, to you and me.Harmony is not for 
Westerners addicted to drama and false conflicts.

Photography,film, screen-wonders of computers 
help the illiterate to smell the great experiences of the writing upper 
class 
- that is great progress 
(though patching broken cloths does not appeal to my idealism).

To understand birth of writing 
we need to understand  birth of language. 
From Dunbars articles in "New Scientist"  
I find the following scenario realistic:

Monkeys have large vocabularies 
and cheat: "Look - a snake" 
you cry, when you want your competitor to flee. 
Then you can eat the tasty nuts you saw.

Upright walking was needed to carry and throw stones. 
Thus our anatomy changed. 
Warfare changed from chimpanzee ambush 
and cannibalism (read Jane Goodall) 
to battle formations and complicated strategy 
(and weapon and castle tecknology).

The leadership (always women) 
want their offspring to survive the battle and become promoted. 
That needs gossip in peacetime, 
to have your son made commander in chief 
and have the  the neighbors son fight in first frontline. The rest is �. 
education.

Gossip is what made vocabulary explode. 
More words with ambiguious meaning, 
means that the families with monopoly 
on good traditional knowledge, 
social heritage, 
will be able to out-fool the competing families. 
Demagogery, interchanging synonymes, 
as first made clear by Cato and Cicero, 
is not unknown in primitive tribes 
- although they are more hooked on body language. (Therefore they are 
primitive.)

From China spread small drawings that became letters. 
North Europe is said to have had pre-Christian monastery universities 
with runes, 
but most were cut in wood and have been burned by Christians.
The Middle East used clay and papyrus 
and their ritual inscriptions  was a monopoly of the priests, during the 
first millenias after their introduction.
Gradually they were used to establish plots: Gilgamesh, Bible, Saga.

Suppression took place with repetitive rituals such as PREYING. 
Mantras got too boring. 
Reading became a better escapism from reality.

Middle Eastern tradition had terrible amounts of good-evil dualism. 
The Odin(Wothan) counterparts - in their anti-heaven - were far less 
devillish.

Smearing opponents became important debate among the Early Christians.

One of my German Jewish heroes is 
Karl Kraus who said 
"Purpose of debate is not to insult you opponent, it is to steal his 
peace of mind"

(The Japs and Chinese don't even do that:

In Japan you keep your opinions to yourself, if you have any, or 
carefully you let other peoples opinions influence your own... This makes 
life much more difficult for professional critics, and they do have a 
thing with exercising anything else than critics. If you really do not 
like the work of an other, you usually do not write about them at 
all.		Ian Buruma("Behind the mask", now chief editor of largest 
East Asian magazine - since anti-revisionists got closed Marco Polo, 
asking Israel&USA to demand governmental censurship)

They read manga cartoons. Violence and pornographic is enjoyed openly and 
shamelessly.
 Slightly less written language and a more  kean interest in material 
THINGS and SPIRITUAL religion, searching for harmony, is their style.


Bo Warming. cand.scient. gymnasiel�rer, Bjelkes Alle 46, DK-2200 
Copenhagen.TELEPHONE (+45)35861000.
E-mail: bowarming@bigfoot.com. URL:    http://www.glistrup.com