There are infinite concepts, but when one applies finite constraints to those
concepts, one can accomplish miracles. This is the foundation of life as I
perceive it. The constraints of words challenge us to think about the world a
specific way in order to communicate what we are thinking and perceiving in
order for it to make sense to those we are communicating with.
I think of communication as the transfer of knowledge between one or more
sources (senders) and one or more sinks (recipients) through an agreed upon
mechanism using a structure specific to the domain. I think of it like a boat
floating down a river. The water is the carrier. The boat is the message
structure, the boat’s contents are the message, the riverbank is the language,
and the ocean is the sink. The shape of the river represents the outside
forces that work in tandem with the river to shape (modulate) the surrounding
land (domain).
When I learn a new language, I first determine what’s important to the domain
in which that language was created. This provides context for understanding
the basic structure and grammar of the language.
So far, I have limited myself to computer programming languages, but I would
like to start learning human languages other than my native tongue.
I believe that you can more easily understand the world around you if you have
language as a guide.
To me, a language has a core essence that must be felt before mastering its
use. By discovering how to use the language, you learn more about the domain
for which it was created.
This serves three purposes: learning the language, learning the domain, and
manipulating the domain using the power of the language.
I think I will focus on studying poetry for each new language I attempt to
learn. I believe that poetry is the essence of humanity, pared down to its
minimal language representation. This means that the ideas of the author are
captured in the most artistic, or even concise way. I have always had better
success treating programming as an art rather than as an engineering
discipline. If I don’t have a human connection to the efforts that I pursue,
then I feel I am not headed in the right direction. By studying the poetry of
the culture that created the language in its native tongue, I believe it will
be easier to understand the language because of our shared human experience.
I believe that my approach to this goes back to my upbringing. Whenever I
asked my mother why a thing was so, she would always answer, “I don’t know,
why don’t you find out?”. I have spent my life finding out the answers to the
questions that pop up in my mind. I am bombarded by ideas during almost every
waking moment of my life. It’s sometimes very debilitating because it makes it
hard to focus on the current problem. I make an effort to maximize my
productivity through the use of new tools (created by me and not created by
me) so that I can finish the tasks associated with the previous ideas more
quickly.
I found a program that will help teach me foreign languages in Virtual
Reality. I’m going to give it a try. I may come back and post the results. If
you don’t hear from me again about the topic, assume that it’s in my rotation.