HR!Day293 - Reflections on the Future of Language in the Age of Information Technology
- --- Humanity Rising Day 293 - Friday July 16, 2021 (GoTo Bottom)
“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.” — Martin Heidegger
We are currently in the era of instant transmission that allows the storage of megaunits of text and speech in many audio and video formats. While this virtual communication tool has its functional benefits it has, in the most profound way, dramatically changed the value and use of language. There are obvious benefits to the multiple virtual communication tools available to us. Yet, the potential drawbacks are unimaginable. While such current phenomena as "fake news" simulate and manipulate linguistical content, it also casts doubt on the preservation of truth and meaningful discourse within virtual environment. This deterioration of meaningful content creates an ideology of progress that focuses on the speed and quantity of exchanged language, creating a severe imbalance between the living word as an instrument of contact between people and mediated, electronically transmitted language. Have we unconsciously neglected or ignored the application of ecological and holistic principles in the way we deal with the most important instrument of human communication? What actually transpires in the full exchange of living words in a face to face conversation? What creates meaning, trust and compassion in the shared and sustained mutually satisfying experience of communication by words? What is the role of embodied presence, sound, rhythm, tone of vocal expression and attentive listening? What are the implications to vocabulary and the syntax of a specific language? Where do these building blocks of language - the vowels, the consonants, the intonations come from? Have we commodified this precious instrument to the detriment of its physical, emotional and spiritual nature?
In this session, Ludwig Max Fischer, a university language and literature teacher and published scholar in the area of eco linguistics and intercultural communication, will present his insights and perspectives into the current crisis of meaning, credibility and truth in public and private discourse, as well as discussing practical ways in which to reclaim our natural abilities towards the exchange of authentic, conscious and truthful language.
Convener:
- Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University
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Presenters
