- #1
Arjess
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This is purely speculative and deals with a quirky concept that quite probably no one else will have any interest. Still, I offer it nonetheless, in the hope that some of you might respond.
Suppose there was a society in which the people spoke in mathematical terms. They have a complex, highly advanced civilization in which everyone spends their time working on advanced problems in math, science, chemistry, physics, etc. Now, because they are so specialized they are forced to trade with the outside world for common, mundane goods like shoes, clothing, food and other manufactured goods. You run a general store and in walks one of these people who wants to buy, oh say, some apples. What would that conversation sound like? How would they communicate, in a spoken way, to let you know (other than strict pantomime or pointing or some other variation of sign language) what it was that they wanted? Realzing you, as a layperson running the store, would not grasp or understand the higher mathematical forms of their language and for various reasons cannot or will not speak your language but understand what you're saying. And you've done enough business with them in the past that you've picked up a few of their phrases and concepts.
If I walk into a store I might say, "Let me have a dozen apples please." But if they walk into the store, they would first have to speak in simple sentences in order for the clerk to understand. Much like any foreigner today would speak in small, broken words to ask a question in English, what for us might amount to little more than baby talk, but because of the language barrier they are forced to communicate the key concept as best they may without the fluidity one would have of native fluency.
So my fancy first led me to try and put things in terms of plane geometry, the first advanced subject in math to be taught in most schools after long division. It's concepts are at an elevated level from basic addition, subtraction, etc. but not as abstract as other fare, like for instance, Algebra. So such a person might first want to indicate the desire to enter into a transaction by first stating, "Line AB intersects Line CD at point E". They're basically saying, "I want to engage this good grocer in some trade and his store is the meeting point". They might ask the price of his goods by saying, "What is the Ratio?", meaning how much to buy this item? If a price were agreed upon they might conclude the transaction by saying, "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line".
How would they say, "Hello" or "Good-bye"? How would they differentiate an apple from an orange or a new hat? What if they were under the weather and wanted to buy some medicine? Assuming that mathematics can be used to describe everything, how could it be accomplished so that it might be used as an everyday language, and more than that, used to converse with people who only have a rudimentary ability to translate? I'm interested in formulating a basic vocabulary and hoping to pick a few brains of people who, like myself, have a fondness for the frivolous and excess capacity for the imaginative.
Many thanks in advance.
Suppose there was a society in which the people spoke in mathematical terms. They have a complex, highly advanced civilization in which everyone spends their time working on advanced problems in math, science, chemistry, physics, etc. Now, because they are so specialized they are forced to trade with the outside world for common, mundane goods like shoes, clothing, food and other manufactured goods. You run a general store and in walks one of these people who wants to buy, oh say, some apples. What would that conversation sound like? How would they communicate, in a spoken way, to let you know (other than strict pantomime or pointing or some other variation of sign language) what it was that they wanted? Realzing you, as a layperson running the store, would not grasp or understand the higher mathematical forms of their language and for various reasons cannot or will not speak your language but understand what you're saying. And you've done enough business with them in the past that you've picked up a few of their phrases and concepts.
If I walk into a store I might say, "Let me have a dozen apples please." But if they walk into the store, they would first have to speak in simple sentences in order for the clerk to understand. Much like any foreigner today would speak in small, broken words to ask a question in English, what for us might amount to little more than baby talk, but because of the language barrier they are forced to communicate the key concept as best they may without the fluidity one would have of native fluency.
So my fancy first led me to try and put things in terms of plane geometry, the first advanced subject in math to be taught in most schools after long division. It's concepts are at an elevated level from basic addition, subtraction, etc. but not as abstract as other fare, like for instance, Algebra. So such a person might first want to indicate the desire to enter into a transaction by first stating, "Line AB intersects Line CD at point E". They're basically saying, "I want to engage this good grocer in some trade and his store is the meeting point". They might ask the price of his goods by saying, "What is the Ratio?", meaning how much to buy this item? If a price were agreed upon they might conclude the transaction by saying, "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line".
How would they say, "Hello" or "Good-bye"? How would they differentiate an apple from an orange or a new hat? What if they were under the weather and wanted to buy some medicine? Assuming that mathematics can be used to describe everything, how could it be accomplished so that it might be used as an everyday language, and more than that, used to converse with people who only have a rudimentary ability to translate? I'm interested in formulating a basic vocabulary and hoping to pick a few brains of people who, like myself, have a fondness for the frivolous and excess capacity for the imaginative.
Many thanks in advance.