Lojban, the "Logical Language"
Among my many interests, one that occasionally lies dormant is a lojban, the "logical language." I just got SuperMemo for the Palm OS so that my PDA can quiz me in lojban vocabulary flashcards at timed intervals throughout each day, so my interest in it is on an upswing right now.
Of course, it's totally permissible to speak as illogically as one wishes to in lojban, and not all the decisions made in crafting lojban are the most logical. It's merely a language with a grammar based on predicate logic, and the inventors tried to avoid arbitrariness and rule exceptions. Lojban is a linguistic hobby, a thought experiment about how language constricts or influences thought.
Also, just as people who enjoy dreaming about the Star Trek Federation enjoy learning Klingon, those who learn lojban might dream of Lojbanistan. In that fantasy land, much-needed ideas are not steamrolled by cultural inertia. Almost everybody uses the metric system and Linux. Those who still speak English use cut spelling except when they want to sound quaint. Keyboards employ the Dvorak layout instead of QWERTY, and Fitaly alphabetic layouts come standard on every handheld device. When citizens of Lojbanistan choose not to have children, nobody pities them or asks them why. They've gotten rid of the penny and introduced two-dollar bills. There is a rational moral community in almost every city of Lojbanistan. Lojbanistan's form of government has no politicians, because the citizens vote on what values they want to prioritize, and an idea futures market governs by predicting the decisions most likely to achieve those values. Maybe even the manifestos written in coffee shops by internet-surfing self-styled intellectuals make a difference in Lojbanistan's culture, and are not ignored by their Nascar dads, soccer moms, valley girlfriends and sainted grannies.
Hey, I can dream can't I?
Of course, it's totally permissible to speak as illogically as one wishes to in lojban, and not all the decisions made in crafting lojban are the most logical. It's merely a language with a grammar based on predicate logic, and the inventors tried to avoid arbitrariness and rule exceptions. Lojban is a linguistic hobby, a thought experiment about how language constricts or influences thought.
Also, just as people who enjoy dreaming about the Star Trek Federation enjoy learning Klingon, those who learn lojban might dream of Lojbanistan. In that fantasy land, much-needed ideas are not steamrolled by cultural inertia. Almost everybody uses the metric system and Linux. Those who still speak English use cut spelling except when they want to sound quaint. Keyboards employ the Dvorak layout instead of QWERTY, and Fitaly alphabetic layouts come standard on every handheld device. When citizens of Lojbanistan choose not to have children, nobody pities them or asks them why. They've gotten rid of the penny and introduced two-dollar bills. There is a rational moral community in almost every city of Lojbanistan. Lojbanistan's form of government has no politicians, because the citizens vote on what values they want to prioritize, and an idea futures market governs by predicting the decisions most likely to achieve those values. Maybe even the manifestos written in coffee shops by internet-surfing self-styled intellectuals make a difference in Lojbanistan's culture, and are not ignored by their Nascar dads, soccer moms, valley girlfriends and sainted grannies.
Hey, I can dream can't I?