Reading makes me feel different

[andrewducker]

I was reading bits of Content and Consciousness last night and I realised that my brain was working in all sorts of ways that it hadn't done in ages. The opening chapter was discussing the way that the language allows you to talk about objects in the same way, even if they are very different kinds of objects (or not objects at all). For instance, we can be said to have "lost our voice" and to have "recorded our voice" and to have a "fabulous voice", but these three all have subtly different meanings of the word "voice" and there's no object we can point at that is a voice.

Which led me to thinking about these refererents (that which is being referred to) as processes or events rather than objects and then realising that all the referents I could think of cod be described as events (although some of them could also be described as objects as well, of course) , which led me to wonder what a race who perceived events rather than objects would be like, and what their language would be like.

And then I realised that it had been a very long time since I'd thought like this, and that I'd been basically anaethatising myself with media that made me feel but didn't make me think. Which is fine in its own way (everyone needs to feel as well as think), but it wasn't stretching me in ways that were definitely very worthwhile.

Which means that I have a New Years resolution (and only a month late): read more things which stretch me.

Comments

Howdy

[harry-maglomrph.livejournal.com]

I followed a recent comment you made to digitalis to your journal and read copiously. I think you're cool, so I added you to my friends list. Just so you know.

Cheers.

Cheers

[andrewducker]

Thanks. You seem pretty cool yerself, so I've added you in return.

Nice cats too.