The Real Innovation of Words
Language is the way of communication and expressing thoughts and ideas, nothing more nothing less. Steven Pinker once said “Language was the real innovation in our biological evolution, everything since has just make our words travel faster or last longer.” In other words, language was what originated all of the technology and the ways that along the times have allowed us to express ourselves easier and faster. Without the development of language, none of the improvements that have being developed would have being possible.
A personal example of this is when I did a partner activity in my Theory of Knowledge class. The assignment was to think of a way to explain how to tie shoe laces to a young child. As the lazy student I am, I tried to just show my partner how to do it, but it turned out to be an epic failure. Because at certain steps the I was going too quick, or my hand were getting in the way a I was doing the demonstration , I was obligated to explain the steps that I had done.
This is relevant to the quote due to the fact that if it was not for the ability to speak I would not have being able to thoroughly explain what was I actually doing. In addition to school, I can also prove that language is the main reason to why we are able to communicate rapidly and more evolved outside of school. An example of this is when I first came to this country. I was only 9 years old and my English was not developed what so ever. It was frustrating going out because it was very hard for me to communicate with others. My method was to try to mimic ate the words out and hope the person understood what I was saying or asking for. That never worked out for me due to the simple fact that hand motions was not enough and although I knew a couple of words once you combine them in a sentence it rarely made sense, which is what encouraged me to learn the language faster.
This example relates to what Steven Pinker said because nothing I did in order to get people to understand me worked. If it was not for the little words I knew and the help of the people around me it would have been almost impossible for someone to understand me. Language is what ties all of our knowledge and understanding together. A vague example if this is children who are not able to speak. Although they are thought sign language, without the actual language and words an individual would not know what it is they are trying to explain exactly. The signs would not have an importance; in fact they would be nothing but hand motions. Thus, if it was not for it communication and expression would not be the same and although many things have being done to improve the way we transmit communication, thoughts, and ideas language is the center to all “real innovations,” like Steven Pinker said in this quote.
