> (No, unfair implication, even in jest - I could never think Zeb is an
> idiot... even if he thinks language is an *invention*. How about binocular
> vision, eh? Bipedalism? the corpus callosum? all great gadgets that made
> their free range inventors rich)
What else could you call it? Even if the /capacity/ for it is innate,
the actual development, formalization, and use of language had to have
been a very inventive act (and in fact the invention I would have put
first on my list). Just for the record, my list would be:
1. Language
2. Fire
3. Agriculture (incl. animal domestication)
4. Radio
5. Packet-switched networking
I imagine Zeb's point is that important inventions tend to happen in
places where inventors can reap the greatest rewards from them. Even
as radical a capitalist as I, though, would disagree. I think pure
accident plays a much greater role.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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