Re: virus: Language

Eva-Lise Carlstrom (eva-lise@efn.org)
Fri, 13 Mar 1998 12:10:40 -0800 (PST)


On Fri, 13 Mar 1998, Wade T.Smith wrote:

> >but I (and others) belive that prior to the advent of language, people
> >didn't think.
>
> Had the great pleasure of going to see Daniel Dennett at MIT on Wednesday
> (short book promotion appearance), and one of his comments, in reference
> to Jaynes among others, was that language may well be a prerequisite of
> consciousness, but that the two do not need to be mutual. In my finite
> wisdom I had thought something very similar. It would certainly solve a
> few of the consciousness puzzles that animals and even AI constructs
> might pose.

I don't understand what you (and Dennett) mean by this; What does the
phrase "the two do not need to be mutual" mean?

--Eva