Netlingua is designed for an open field in the public sphere. It is a
network consisting of six nodes, each with a particular environmental
sensor (ie. wind direction, wind speed, temperature, atmospheric pressure,
humidity, and light), a memory, a unique voice, and access to add to or
draw from a shared global lexicon. The work itself is an experiment in
language evolution as a complex adaptive system which is integrally bound
to and derived from environmental input and interaction between individuals.
Initially the nodes are each blank slates; they have no knowledge about
the world and no expressions to describe it. The process begins as each
node senses its environment through its specific sensor and creates a
word to describe this concrete experience. The word is vocalized, becoming
part of the shared global lexicon, and the first seeds of an invented
community language are planted.
As time passes, each node develops its own complex web of sensory impressions.
As senses repeat they are recognized, and time relations emerge linking
instances of a particular impression. After a period of sensing, the nodes
enter a period of reflection. They look back at their recent experiences
and contemplate what stands out as interesting or what is the dominant
trend in relation to the whole of their existence. They create and vocalize
terms for these time-based relationships and associate similar instances
of experience as general concepts in memory. This is important because
they do not simply view their lives as a list of experiences and times,
rather they have a general picture of their life as a connection of various
memory concepts and associations. They speak words representing these
concepts to one another, creating a community memory that transcends the
individual and allows a more complex picture of the world. Their language
grows as a dialog develops.
With the progression of time and sensory experience, memory and ideas
grow increasingly complex, and their shared language evolves, integral
to their conceptual growth. Not only do they reflect on the past, they
also begin to look for patterns and connections between concepts in the
community knowledge. They begin to form meta-relations, abstractions from
reality that exist only as language dependent creations. As they experience,
reflect, ponder, and create, they vocalize everything. The individual
growth of each node occurs by and through the invention and evolution
of the networks' shared language.
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