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newroscientist

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How could natural language look like if it hadn't evolved from speech?

Written language is a linear progression of symbols - in other words, a function from some "time" to a finite alphabet. This fact is a direct result of prehistoric humans primarily communicating by fluctuating air pressure, which one can model as a real-valued function of time. So suppose it wasn't...

Feb 6, 2021•5

newroscientist

newroscientist — LessWrong

newroscientist

Message

How could natural language look like if it hadn't evolved from speech?

Feb 6, 2021•5

newroscientist

How could natural language look like if it hadn't evolved from speech?

newroscientist

So suppose it wasn't that way - i.e. imagine aliens communicating by displaying pictures on their chests or projecting holograms. How might their "language" look like?

I imagine two things (and ask for more ideas in the comments):

In a 2D (or 3D) structure, it will be much easier to refer to previously introduced concepts by arranging them closer to each other - the language would look more like

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