Comments on: My Theory of Human Evolution (the cellphone effect) http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:53:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » My Theory of Human Evolution (directory) http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/#comment-157904 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:27:59 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/#comment-157904 [...] I Recommend material-science research) the cellphone effect (the first words facilitated trade) micropygmies (hunter-gatherers w/ trade different from those w/o trade) [...] […] I Recommend material-science research) the cellphone effect (the first words facilitated trade) micropygmies (hunter-gatherers w/ trade different from those w/o trade) […]

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/#comment-151963 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:31:15 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/#comment-151963 Thanks, Chris, interesting point. The toothpaste man is using a system that has thousands of nouns. (And can easily make room for even more.) The higher primates have just a few object-specific vocalizations. I'm saying that the many-noun system evolved because of trade. If you have a lotta stuff to trade you obviously need a more flexible system -- I think the word is "scalable". Thanks, Chris, interesting point. The toothpaste man is using a system that has thousands of nouns. (And can easily make room for even more.) The higher primates have just a few object-specific vocalizations. I’m saying that the many-noun system evolved because of trade. If you have a lotta stuff to trade you obviously need a more flexible system — I think the word is “scalable”.

]]> by: Chris B. http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/#comment-151875 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:50:54 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/04/11/my-theory-of-human-evolution-the-cellphone-effect/#comment-151875 "This is exactly the effect I propose that the very first words had: They helped two traders find each other. Having a word for knife made it much easier for the person who had a knife to trade to find someone who wanted a knife. [...] In a Guatemalan market, I heard a man shout “toothpaste” (in Spanish) over and over. He was selling toothpaste." Yet there's evidence that some higher primates have vocalisations associated with particular objects - types of food for example. Yet they don't trade. What they have may not be language, but it would be as much language as your toothpaste man is using. “This is exactly the effect I propose that the very first words had: They helped two traders find each other. Having a word for knife made it much easier for the person who had a knife to trade to find someone who wanted a knife. […] In a Guatemalan market, I heard a man shout “toothpaste” (in Spanish) over and over. He was selling toothpaste.”

Yet there’s evidence that some higher primates have vocalisations associated with particular objects - types of food for example. Yet they don’t trade. What they have may not be language, but it would be as much language as your toothpaste man is using.

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