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Introduction to Connotative
Intelligence™:
Written Language is the World's Only Indispensable Technology
What would happen to society if everybody
woke up one morning without the capacity to read and write? Or even to learn to
read and write?
Within a short time there would be:
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No
schools, colleges or universities
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No
libraries, books, newspapers, magazines, or anything else related to the printed word
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No
telephones (even if we could speak, there would be no educated people or written records
and specifications to build and maintain telecommunications systems)
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No radio
or television (same reason)
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No
computers
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No
Internet
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No stock
markets
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No cars,
trucks, ships, trains, or aircraft (it takes educated people using written records and
specifications to build and maintain such technology)
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No
electricity or anything that runs on electricity or battery power
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No modern
medicine and health care
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Etc., etc.
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In other words, without written language,
we would revert to a society of hunting, gathering, and primitive agriculture.
The same cannot be said of any other
single technology, be it the microchip, the internal combustion engine, or the
electric power grid. Modern, complex societies can exist without these things, but not
without written language.
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The world’s only indispensable
technology is written language.
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"Until
McLuhan ... no one thought of seeing language as technology."—Robert
Fulford, writer (Globe & Mail, June 2000)
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"Language
is still the most fantastic technology we have."—Christopher Dewdney,
poet.
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"The
real technology—behind all of our other technologies—is language. It actually
creates the world our consciousness lives in."—Norman Fischer in Wired
(Jan 99)
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"The
only thing that I'd rather own than Windows [operating system] is the English
language."—Scott McNealy, Chair & CEO, Sun Microsystems
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Technology by definition is the conversion
of something we’ve learned into something we can make practical use of.
We use language reference tools such as
dictionaries and thesauruses to help us become more skilled in using this
technology—to help us convert the words and phrases we’ve learned into something
we can make practical use of, namely, articulate, clear, convincing, persuasive language.
For information on how
Connotative Intelligence™ technology makes the emotional or connotative content of language
available in language reference tools, see Tech Overview.
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