Before you learned to talk, how did you think?

2

Comments

  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    I'm pretty sure you can think to yourself without hearing voices in your head. I understand what this thread is getting at, but you have to also understand, words are just verbal communication. You can look at a tree, know its a tree without having to say "thats a tree" in your head.

    oh no im always talking. in fact i'd not be surprised if i came out of the womb talking. :D my youngest daughter is like that too. hell i even talk in my sleep.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • LikeAnOceanLikeAnOcean Posts: 7,718
    oh no im always talking. in fact i'd not be surprised if i came out of the womb talking. :D my youngest daughter is like that too. hell i even talk in my sleep.
    I think we only talk in our heads to re-affirm things.. I don't think we are using language when we are thinking. Atleast, I don't. Maybe I'm different though. Sure I talk in my head, but only to establish to myself what I have already thought...

    speaking of which, does anyone talk to themselves? I do! :D
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    I think we only talk in our heads to re-affirm things.. I don't think we are using language when we are thinking. Atleast, I don't. Maybe I'm different though. Sure I talk in my head, but only to establish to myself what I have already thought...

    speaking of which, does anyone talk to themselves? I do! :D

    yes i talk to myself.
    and i talk inside my head when i am 'thinking'. when i am writing it's a constant conversation in there. :)
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    I think it all goes back to synapto/neuro-genesis.


    so your thinking is that intelligence is a product of one's having a greater or lesser speeds of internal electricity,...?
    we don’t know just where our bones will rest,
    to dust i guess,
    forgotten and absorbed into the earth below,..
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    so your thinking is that intelligence is a product of one's having a greater or lesser speeds of internal electricity,...?

    Not exactly, it's more to do with the strength of concepts, like critical thought, logic, and so on. Logic is all about true/false statements, to hear a statement and think "Why is that true?" "Is it necissarily true?" etc.. many people don't exercise that thought, and don't think that way regularily, but I would definitely consider intelligence a product of thought method.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • tooferztooferz Posts: 135
    I think we only talk in our heads to re-affirm things.. I don't think we are using language when we are thinking. Atleast, I don't. Maybe I'm different though. Sure I talk in my head, but only to establish to myself what I have already thought...

    speaking of which, does anyone talk to themselves? I do! :D
    i think perhaps we do say the words in our heads...but we are inundated with so much data all the time, we don't consciously realize we actually see/hear the words in our minds. kinda like walking. when you are a baby, every step is a concentrated effort. but after a while...you just go without conscious thought.

    yes i talk to myself. sometimes it's the only way i can force a memory.
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    Not exactly, it's more to do with the strength of concepts, like critical thought, logic, and so on. Logic is all about true/false statements, to hear a statement and think "Why is that true?" "Is it necissarily true?" etc.. many people don't exercise that thought, and don't think that way regularily, but I would definitely consider intelligence a product of thought method.


    ok, yeah, i agree with that enlarge. so the issue of advancing intelligence is that of education--namely educating youths about the importance of continuing to ask deeper questions once one finds some clarity from the surface of issues,..?

    i think habitually pursuing issues to their core, or "universal-origins", can in fact lead to quicker nerve-synapse response-times. i'm interested in if this can be a dangerous, somewhat addictive process though--where one's ingrained thought-process is more reflex than discovery. my inclination is that this is more rewarding than troublesome, since more often than not any ingrained reactive thought is the valuable product of a distinctive stimulus.

    is that at all sensical to you?
    we don’t know just where our bones will rest,
    to dust i guess,
    forgotten and absorbed into the earth below,..
  • Great clip form my favorite movie 'Waking Life' about language and it's inadequacies. This has bugged my so much throughout my life...that I'm communicating an emotion or thought and it's just assumed that someone understands because they say so. But how can they really understand? What if the same words hold a completely different experience or memory for them altogether?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Ee9mW9IG8

    Also, I have a memory of when I was a baby and I was screaming my head off as my grandmother was rocking me in her den. I remember so vividly screaming because I couldn't express to my grandmother that I wanted to be out in the sunlight and it was kinda dark in the den. I remember how extremely frustrated I felt not being able to communicate this with her. It was such a helpless feeling!! And after a few minutes my uncle walks in the door, picks me up and carries me to the front porch. I remember distinctly the light flooding in the room around his silhouette as the door opened and he came in. I stopped crying immediately and that's all I can recall. Almost everytime I tell this story to people they act like it's impossible to remember something form so far back but my grandmother remembered exactly when I was talking about and could retell the exact same chain of events.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    Great clip form my favorite movie 'Waking Life' about language and it's inadequacies. This has bugged my so much throughout my life...that I'm communicating an emotion or thought and it's just assumed that someone understands because they say so. But how can they really understand? What if the same words hold a completely different experience or memory for them altogether?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Ee9mW9IG8

    Also, I have a memory of when I was a baby and I was screaming my head off as my grandmother was rocking me in her den. I remember so vividly screaming because I couldn't express to my grandmother that I wanted to be out in the sunlight and it was kinda dark in the den. I remember how extremely frustrated I felt not being able to communicate this with her. It was such a helpless feeling!! And after a few minutes my uncle walks in the door, picks me up and carries me to the front porch. I remember distinctly the light flooding in the room around his silhouette as the door opened and he came in. I stopped crying immediately and that's all I can recall. Almost everytime I tell this story to people they act like it's impossible to remember something form so far back but my grandmother remembered exactly when I was talking about and could retell the exact same chain of events.
    Wow. That's awesome to hear that Abook!
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    ok, yeah, i agree with that enlarge. so the issue of advancing intelligence is that of education--namely educating youths about the importance of continuing to ask deeper questions once one finds some clarity from the surface of issues,..?

    i think habitually pursuing issues to their core, or "universal-origins", can in fact lead to quicker nerve-synapse response-times. i'm interested in if this can be a dangerous, somewhat addictive process though--where one's ingrained thought-process is more reflex than discovery. my inclination is that this is more rewarding than troublesome, since more often than not any ingrained reactive thought is the valuable product of a distinctive stimulus.

    is that at all sensical to you?

    It seems like it makes sense. I gotta admit though, Baraka PMd me a link to some in-depth study material on quantum mechanics and my brain is like mush right now. I didn't even get past the math part of it, I had a problem with trigonomitry the last time I attempted it, when my bro lent me his "Physics: For Scientists and Engineers" I couldn't read, because of the math.

    Anyway, by tomorrow I should be able to interpret what you said ;)
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • angelica wrote:
    Wow. That's awesome to hear that Abook!

    :)
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Great clip form my favorite movie 'Waking Life' about language and it's inadequacies. This has bugged my so much throughout my life...that I'm communicating an emotion or thought and it's just assumed that someone understands because they say so. But how can they really understand? What if the same words hold a completely different experience or memory for them altogether?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Ee9mW9IG8

    Also, I have a memory of when I was a baby and I was screaming my head off as my grandmother was rocking me in her den. I remember so vividly screaming because I couldn't express to my grandmother that I wanted to be out in the sunlight and it was kinda dark in the den. I remember how extremely frustrated I felt not being able to communicate this with her. It was such a helpless feeling!! And after a few minutes my uncle walks in the door, picks me up and carries me to the front porch. I remember distinctly the light flooding in the room around his silhouette as the door opened and he came in. I stopped crying immediately and that's all I can recall. Almost everytime I tell this story to people they act like it's impossible to remember something form so far back but my grandmother remembered exactly when I was talking about and could retell the exact same chain of events.

    I want to see that movie, and A Scanner Darkly by linklater, have you seen that one?
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    I want to see that movie, and A Scanner Darkly by linklater, have you seen that one?

    Yes, I liked it it, too but not nearly as much as Waking Life. Both were done using the same type of animation. Woody Harleson kind of annoyed me in Scanner, though but it's still a good film. And please watch Waking Life soon so we can discuss it. :) It covers so many view points, including free will and determinism.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxQuPBX1_U
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I want to see that movie, and A Scanner Darkly by linklater, have you seen that one?

    that's on my list too. drugs and philosophy, does it get any better?
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Yes, I liked it it, too but not nearly as much as Waking Life. Both were done using the same type of animation. Woody Harleson kind of annoyed me in Scanner, though but it's still a good film. And please watch Waking Life soon so we can discuss it. :) It covers so many view points, including free will and determinism.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxQuPBX1_U

    I will see it asap.

    Well, I watched that bit on telescopic evolution and one point I believe is wrong. He says digital comes from computers and analog from something else. It doesn't really describe what they are. Digital simply implies a binary state, on/off, 1/0. The average light switch may be considered a digital light switch because it only has two stable states, on or off. While analog is a variable, it can be in any state between on and off, or -5 volts and +5 volts. Dimmer switches are a type of light-switch using a variable transistor that allows for variable states between on and off, that would be analagous to analog.

    That's semantics really, but that's the reference when talking about the difference between analogue and digital. Digital can be either -5 volts or +5 volts, while analogue could be -2.5 volts or any range between -5 and +5 volts. So, they aren't really contradictory concepts. They always profess in ads that digital is better, but in the case of the light switch, it's not. What makes digital better for coding is that currents suffer signal loss. So if using a digital encoding, if the signal received is +4.3 volts, it will be decoded as +5 volts, where as with analog, the signal would be decoded as +4.3 volts and thus be wrong. So, what he says doesn't really make any sense, that digital and analogue can exist together. Makes me a bit skeptical about the other information that is alien to me. I'd be concerned that taking it as fact may be wrong.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    that's on my list too. drugs and philosophy, does it get any better?

    I heard about it on Alex Jones radio show when I used to listen to it. He mostly covered the secret government, Orwellian mood of the movie.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • SpunkieSpunkie i come from downtown. Posts: 6,764
    I thought in music: rhythmic flow patterns with my feet bopping on the wall by my crib.
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    tish wrote:
    I thought in music: rhythmic flow patterns with my feet bopping on the wall by my crib.

    Is this a serious statement? (that big smiley face with the teeth, if someone knows the shortcut, tell me, it seems to be favored over the other one)
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Has anyone else felt some frustration when looking up words in the dictionary and the defintions seem lacking or to be leaving some important things out? Like it's not saying exactly quite what you think of when you hear that certain word? I think dictionaries are so vague because language is so inept at really describing things as we experience them individually.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Has anyone else felt some frustration when looking up words in the dictionary and the defintions seem lacking or to be leaving some important things out? Like it's not saying exactly quite what you think of when you hear that certain word? I think dictionaries are so vague because language is so inept at really describing things as we experience them individually.

    Actually, quite the contrary, word definitions tend to mean exactly what I think they mean. That may sound ridiculous, but I also studied the dictionary at age 12. Unfortunately I don't think I retained a lot of it, but I mostly learn words from the dictionary. I think the distinction of words is very important to communication. The general social atmosphere tends to reduce the number of words, limiting the descriptive quality of our language. It will use words to describe a multitude of things like "Fuck" to simplify life. But it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

    An example I can think of, of poor communication in a social context is this.

    "That man is queer"
    "That man is strange"
    "That man is odd"

    It doesn't matter which word I use, they all have a negative connotation. How can I describe a person that appears differently, has unusual behavioral patterns, without negatively stigmatizing him? I can't. I also believe that some may not take those meanings negatively, while others will take it extremely negative. I've always had communication problems because I tend to take words literally. I seriously offended my friend when I made a suggestion about the nature of homosexuality, it was a miscommunication, because I didn't intend it to be negative, I was merely basing it on what I knew and what made sense to me, but she lent me her book on Developmental Psychology and I learned information that changed my perspective. She must have realized that my opinion was the result of my knowledge and we are still very good friends. That whole situation would have been avoidable if she had granted me the doubt of my intentions or taken my words literally without the subjective social connotations.

    That's what I think about it currently, in my current mental state with my current knowledge. ;)
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • that's on my list too. drugs and philosophy, does it get any better?

    I replied to the wrong post lol
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    I want to see that movie, and A Scanner Darkly by linklater, have you seen that one?


    I've seen it twice, it's pretty trippy... keep the bong handy..
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    Actually, quite the contrary, word definitions tend to mean exactly what I think they mean. That may sound ridiculous, but I also studied the dictionary at age 12. Unfortunately I don't think I retained a lot of it, but I mostly learn words from the dictionary. I think the distinction of words is very important to communication. The general social atmosphere tends to reduce the number of words, limiting the descriptive quality of our language. It will use words to describe a multitude of things like "Fuck" to simplify life. But it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

    An example I can think of, of poor communication in a social context is this.

    "That man is queer"
    "That man is strange"
    "That man is odd"

    It doesn't matter which word I use, they all have a negative connotation. How can I describe a person that appears differently, has unusual behavioral patterns, without negatively stigmatizing him? I can't. I also believe that some may not take those meanings negatively, while others will take it extremely negative. I've always had communication problems because I tend to take words literally. I seriously offended my friend when I made a suggestion about the nature of homosexuality, it was a miscommunication, because I didn't intend it to be negative, I was merely basing it on what I knew and what made sense to me, but she lent me her book on Developmental Psychology and I learned information that changed my perspective. She must have realized that my opinion was the result of my knowledge and we are still very good friends. That whole situation would have been avoidable if she had granted me the doubt of my intentions or taken my words literally without the subjective social connotations.

    That's what I think about it currently, in my current mental state with my current knowledge. ;)

    I agree that the more words we have to describe the more we can come close to actually understanding one another. But I still feel definitions will have to always be vague because it's impossible to describe words without adding in personal experience and interpretation. Saying something is one thing but living it is much more than can often expressed.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • edgarcampedgarcamp Posts: 100
    Ahnimus wrote:
    A question for everyone.

    Does anyone remember life before language?

    What did your thoughts consist of?

    When you think now, what language is it?

    Feed me, burb me, change my fuckin' diaper! Oh, and quit talking in that silly voice, it's annoying!
    The language, help me survive 'cause I can't do it on my own. It will come up again in 40 or 50 years.
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,977
    hmmmmmm...i do not believe i have any preverbal memories. however, i do have many memories, vague....from when quite young and although i could speak...they are more emotional/physical feeling sort of memories. so yea, actiosn that occured and how i felt, or what i saw, etc. so i would think...any memory w/o language would be at that base level of feeling, senses........visual and tactile being the most prevelant. even now i ADORE visual/tactile memories....so raw.


    on a sidenote, semi-related tangent: i remember my friend from college in london...she is finnish, so obviously english not her first language. anyway, i remember after being there a year, and she was living there even longer, she mentioned how she had her first dream in english and how amazing it was that it had occured. as i do not speak any other languages, i had never thought of such a scenario before...but i thought, man...that IS fascinating/cool....
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • gue_bariumgue_barium Posts: 5,515
    I remember ....

    lots of things.

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    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • CommyCommy Posts: 4,984
    Ahnimus wrote:
    A question for everyone.

    Does anyone remember life before language?

    What did your thoughts consist of?

    When you think now, what language is it?

    I don't think there is life before language, it being innate among human beings.
  • even flow?even flow? Posts: 8,066
    If I don't see that breast, I may go hungry. Was indeed my second thought after, what the hell just happened. :)
    You've changed your place in this world!
  • Heatherj43Heatherj43 Posts: 1,254
    Imagry.Even today when I have to remember something, I do it thru imagry. Its almost like a photograhic memory. I usually recall the place, the people around, the clothes we all were wearing...and the exact words said. I have friends who warn others when they try to tell me the conversation went different than what I recall, to not argue with me cuz I am usually correct.
    I GUESS this is the rersult of my preverbal days.
    Its like I get am image of the incident more than just what was said. That alone makes the words said memorized too.
    Save room for dessert!
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    It seems like it makes sense. I gotta admit though, Baraka PMd me a link to some in-depth study material on quantum mechanics and my brain is like mush right now. I didn't even get past the math part of it, I had a problem with trigonomitry the last time I attempted it, when my bro lent me his "Physics: For Scientists and Engineers" I couldn't read, because of the math.

    Anyway, by tomorrow I should be able to interpret what you said ;)


    quantum mechanics is interesting. i hate math though. i dont think there will be a unified theory that truly works in our lifetime--how does one quantify psychology? or the fact of psychologies? that variable alone is infinite! let alone infinity! but i suppose im probably just thinking too far outside of the norm. i can see quantum mechanics and relativity easily being combined, via math, at some point in this new century, i just doubt that such an event is going to solve all of the problems in life. should make colonizing Io alot more fun though!
    we don’t know just where our bones will rest,
    to dust i guess,
    forgotten and absorbed into the earth below,..
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