um, Nicaraguan sign language? It's taken 30 odd years, but there's a language that arose from nothing. (Some unethical trials do get carried out, although maybe not completely randomised, granted.)
My professional opinion as a linguist is that there's no clear evidence that language takes thousands of years to develop, and in fact, the evidence is, that in a modern human community, it takes 2-3 generations for basic hand and facial gestures to become a fully-fledged language with complex syntactic and morphological rules. I'm thinking here of the Nicaraguan deaf community, who were only allowed to become a community and use sign language in the mid-1970s wikipedia. The differences between the basic home signs used by the original community members (school students), and the language used by later members/students is very bloody impressive!
Not only that, but why is it that being anonymous makes people meaner? Why doesn't it make people nicer? Being nice makes you feel good about yourself, doing something good that others don't know about gives you a sense of pleasure/smugness and 'I'm a worthwhile and useful person' feeling. They seem far more logical feelings to have and to want to create in yourself, than a sense of 'teehee, I insulted somebody I don't know and made them feel bad'. So I think it's a very strange and relevant finding that anonymity turns people mean; I think it's totally counter-intuitive!
"Maybe some people remember how mild last summer was? I don't believe there was a single day last summer when I didn't feel comfortable to wear long sleeves."
Or maybe some people live in Melbourne, Australia, and it seems like summer has been going forever. It's halfway through March, and we're still getting 32-35 degree days, and over 20 degrees at night minimum. Looking at our water reservoirs being down to 20% by mid-year, too, for a city of over 3 million people.
And keep in mind that "global warming" is an ongoing process, that our grandkids are going to suffer from far more that you or me. So of course you're not going to feel it getting hotter - we're all frogs in a jacuzzi here.
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um, Nicaraguan sign language? It's taken 30 odd years, but there's a language that arose from nothing. (Some unethical trials do get carried out, although maybe not completely randomised, granted.)
My professional opinion as a linguist is that there's no clear evidence that language takes thousands of years to develop, and in fact, the evidence is, that in a modern human community, it takes 2-3 generations for basic hand and facial gestures to become a fully-fledged language with complex syntactic and morphological rules. I'm thinking here of the Nicaraguan deaf community, who were only allowed to become a community and use sign language in the mid-1970s wikipedia. The differences between the basic home signs used by the original community members (school students), and the language used by later members/students is very bloody impressive!
Not only that, but why is it that being anonymous makes people meaner? Why doesn't it make people nicer? Being nice makes you feel good about yourself, doing something good that others don't know about gives you a sense of pleasure/smugness and 'I'm a worthwhile and useful person' feeling. They seem far more logical feelings to have and to want to create in yourself, than a sense of 'teehee, I insulted somebody I don't know and made them feel bad'. So I think it's a very strange and relevant finding that anonymity turns people mean; I think it's totally counter-intuitive!
but by george, those few connected citizens do their best to make up for the lack of email of all the others...
Weather and climate are different, climate is a long term thing.
precisely! I got so peeved at that previous post saying 'cos i don't feel warmer, that must mean 'global warming' is imaginary'!!!
"Maybe some people remember how mild last summer was? I don't believe there was a single day last summer when I didn't feel comfortable to wear long sleeves."
Or maybe some people live in Melbourne, Australia, and it seems like summer has been going forever. It's halfway through March, and we're still getting 32-35 degree days, and over 20 degrees at night minimum. Looking at our water reservoirs being down to 20% by mid-year, too, for a city of over 3 million people.
And keep in mind that "global warming" is an ongoing process, that our grandkids are going to suffer from far more that you or me. So of course you're not going to feel it getting hotter - we're all frogs in a jacuzzi here.