The description of the NYT article is not correct on the issue of the the tribe's language; it isn't whistles and sounds without vowels and consonates. Their language differs in that they don't use embedded phrases ("Packing his AK-47, he went to the school, where he established a peace perimeter.") Socially, they don't appear to be aware of time past or time future. They don't care about the outside world or other ways of doing things. Irene is correct in saying they seem to be like cats. The tribe lives in the immediate present.
The New Yorker article is mostly about the politics of the linguists who are studying the tribe.
I wonder if the tribe's nature (living only in the present) could be a genetic disorder. yrs, andreas www.andreas.com----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Stone" <pastone@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 1:31 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Twitter
>There's an article in the New Yorker about a tribe in Brazil that communicates in whistles and sounds that don't sound anything like any language in the world. They have no vowels, no consonants. But, they stay 100% in the moment, never think about tomorrow, have no concept of left and right, of history, of even yesterday, and they are in absolute harmony with their world (they can't even imagine why you would want to kill a mosquito), and with each other. They don't live in houses, don't stock up on food, 'more' doesn't exist for them,and they are extremely, extremely happy and content. Even the pictures of them show such serenity on their faces. They're almost like cats at their finest, without the predation, or maybe like whales. I bring this up only because if twitter helps keep people continually in the moment, it might help in reducing greed and increasing contentment, which would be a big deal.I wonder, how do they know all this stuff? How do you ask a person who only whistles "do you have a concept of left or right?" Those are some breakneck assumptions going on with that anthropology. paul
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