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Language is not essential for the cognitive processes that underlie thought

(www.scientificamerican.com)
549 points orcul | 1 comments | 17 Oct 24 12:10 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jjtheblunt ◴[19 Oct 24 19:14 UTC] No.41889939[source]▶
The conclusion implied by the title seems self evident for anyone who has seen any (at least) nonhuman mammalian predator.
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1. heresie-dabord ◴[20 Oct 24 12:17 UTC] No.41894854[source]▶
Whether in the predator or in the prey, the reward system of getting food and surviving through evolution in geological time would strengthen effective thinking.

Then comes the need to transmit/transfer understanding.

From the fine article:

> various properties that human languages have—there are about 7,000 of them spoken and signed across the world—are optimized for efficiently transmitting information, making things easy to perceive, easy to understand, easy to produce and easy to learn for kids.