How Much Would the Development of Civilization Have Been Different
Options
Stiff
Members Posts: 7,723 ✭✭✭✭✭
If Humans weren't born with the biological capability of speech?
Would civilization even have been possible? Would written language have even been conceivable?
How much of an edge would we still have over the rest of the organisms on Earth?
Would civilization even have been possible? Would written language have even been conceivable?
How much of an edge would we still have over the rest of the organisms on Earth?
Comments
-
We'd communicate through actions and suggestive behavior
-
Humans would have been set back but we're a resilient species though, I think eventually we would have still had our current ? over other animals. Written language would have been improved if anything, if we could not speak. More emphasis would have gone into writing or symbols but progress for everything would be slower
-
kingblaze84 wrote: »Humans would have been set back but we're a resilient species though, I think eventually we would have still had our current ? over other animals. Written language would have been improved if anything, if we could not speak. More emphasis would have gone into writing or symbols but progress for everything would be slower
And actually you could argue that things would get accomplished quicker. There'd be less room for talking n bullshittin -
kingblaze84 wrote: »Humans would have been set back but we're a resilient species though, I think eventually we would have still had our current ? over other animals. Written language would have been improved if anything, if we could not speak. More emphasis would have gone into writing or symbols but progress for everything would be slower
And actually you could argue that things would get accomplished quicker. There'd be less room for talking n bullshittin
But there'd be less room for persuasion at the same time -
Sign language.
-
kingblaze84 wrote: »Humans would have been set back but we're a resilient species though, I think eventually we would have still had our current ? over other animals. Written language would have been improved if anything, if we could not speak. More emphasis would have gone into writing or symbols but progress for everything would be slower
And actually you could argue that things would get accomplished quicker. There'd be less room for talking n bullshittin
But there'd be less room for persuasion at the same time
Yeah that's a very solid point. It's not really what we say that persuades people in person, it's how we say it. That's why I think progress would have been slower but on the other hand, I do believe there would be less conflict if we couldn't speak. Most fights I've ever seen tend to happen because someone is rude or ? up in how someone says ? . -
-
Sign language.
So there would have never been a telephone...so would the internet have been possible? -
I think we'd be very similar to the other African apes (chimpanzees and gorillas) if we weren't capable of any form of language. I think we'd just come up with sign language if we weren't capable of speech specifically and I don't think the progression of human culture would be that different.
-
Y'all are making it sound like vocalization is no big deal
We're talking no radio...no telephones...without telephones is the internet possible?
Communication wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective...I'm sure it's waaaaay harder to rally people around somebody signing than someone giving a passionate speech. Fewer people can be communicated with at a time.
Without spoken language is written language possible? -
Y'all are making it sound like vocalization is no big deal
We're talking no radio...no telephones...without telephones is the internet possible?
Communication wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective...I'm sure it's waaaaay harder to rally people around somebody signing than someone giving a passionate speech. Fewer people can be communicated with at a time.
Without spoken language is written language possible?
I think I was undermining how different things would be. My point was that some form of 'civilization' would still develop with a non-vocal form of language.
I don't understand why written language would not be possible without spoken language. There are people who are deaf or dumb and communicate through sign language and can read and write. Blind people also have braille (sp?). I don't know if the internet would have developed but I don't see why it couldn't have. -
Y'all are making it sound like vocalization is no big deal
We're talking no radio...no telephones...without telephones is the internet possible?
Communication wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective...I'm sure it's waaaaay harder to rally people around somebody signing than someone giving a passionate speech. Fewer people can be communicated with at a time.
Without spoken language is written language possible?
I think I was undermining how different things would be. My point was that some form of 'civilization' would still develop with a non-vocal form of language.
I don't understand why written language would not be possible without spoken language. There are people who are deaf or dumb and communicate through sign language and can read and write. Blind people also have braille (sp?). I don't know if the internet would have developed but I don't see why it couldn't have.
I know it's possible to learn written language if you're deaf and dumb but is it possible to create a written language that's not based on a spoken language?
And the reason I question whether the internet would exist is because it descended from the telephone and the first internet connections were based off of LAN lines...with no vocal communication no telephones so no telephone lines -
Y'all are making it sound like vocalization is no big deal
We're talking no radio...no telephones...without telephones is the internet possible?
Communication wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective...I'm sure it's waaaaay harder to rally people around somebody signing than someone giving a passionate speech. Fewer people can be communicated with at a time.
Without spoken language is written language possible?
I think I was undermining how different things would be. My point was that some form of 'civilization' would still develop with a non-vocal form of language.
I don't understand why written language would not be possible without spoken language. There are people who are deaf or dumb and communicate through sign language and can read and write. Blind people also have braille (sp?). I don't know if the internet would have developed but I don't see why it couldn't have.
I know it's possible to learn written language if you're deaf and dumb but is it possible to create a written language that's not based on a spoken language?
And the reason I question whether the internet would exist is because it descended from the telephone and the first internet connections were based off of LAN lines...with no vocal communication no telephones so no telephone lines
I think there would have been another way around to eventually getting the internet but I admit I'm throwing a Hail Mary on this (or committing a fumble).
I mean, think of how miraculous the invention of picture recording or sound recording is. If humans can be innovative enough to do things like that, I truly feel there would be another way around to creating the internet if we couldn't speak. But I do believe if that was the case, it would have taken probably another few hundreds years longer. Maybe even a thousand.
-
Not very
-
I think about this often. We might be sneezing and coughing as small talk, sign language to flirt, and dancing more often. That ? would be hilarious.