The Blessing and Burden of Words
Writing is both one of our greatest achievements and an Achilles’ heel.
We think in language. If no one is around to talk to, we talk to ourselves, our pets, even our houseplants. While we now commonly acknowledge other animals lead conscious lives and possess intelligence, we still find it very difficult to imagine how they can think without language.
Of course, some animals do seem to have very sophisticated forms of communication of their own. Whales, for example, express themselves through highly complex “songs” that can be heard over vast distances.
Nonetheless, we humans are unique when it comes to our language skills. We have developed thousands of languages and dialects, and numerous means of putting these to use. In addition to verbal communication, we have developed written languages that can be communicated visually on paper and, more recently, on screens.
Words are central to our identity as a species. Our ability to communicate has enabled us to share ideas over vast distances and across time. Now, these exchanges can take place almost instantly. Without words, our dominance of the planet would not have been possible.
However, the vast separation words have created between humans and other species has also made it difficult…
