Since the very earliest times, we humans have dreamed
of overcoming the limits imposed by our bodies, and of using technology to
surpass the intellectual, physical or psychological boundaries of our
existence. The development of writing in the ancient world is usually ranked as
one of the most important of human cultural achievements, as significant as the
domestication of fire, the invention of agriculture, and even the development
of the wheel. With the invention of the alphabet, writing technology has given
us a means to record our words and therefore allows our thoughts to outlive us;
the dead can speak to the living. The use of the alphabet permits us to build
on the knowledge of others, over generations. It is at the core of
our civilization—and some would go so
far as to say it is at the essence of our humanness. The technology
of writing, it could be said, is a sort of ‘brain storage’ device.
Ernst Cassirer, the 20th century
Jewish-German philosopher, claimed that humanity could not be known directly
through its physical nature, but rather argued humanity can only be known
through an analysis of the symbolic universe that we humans have created for
ourselves. Cassirer theorized humans should be defined as animal
symbolicum (meaning a “symbol-making” or “symbolizing animal”). As such,
instead of Homo sapiens, perhaps the term Homo symbolicum best
describes us. After all, as a species, we do acquire most of our knowledge by
creating and manipulating letter signs.
This is what makes human primates so different when
compared to our other primate relatives, such as our closest relative the
chimpanzees (with their 98% genetic similarity to humans). When compared to
other primates, humans are symbolic animals. Chimps do not
have the ability to amass the knowledge of their ancestors and build on it.
They cannot communicate knowledge that may have already been uncovered by some
other chimp who lived a long time before them in order to try to make it even
better, to improve it. Even if we are social creatures like our monkey cousins,
what makes us so special is that we have the written word which can be used to
record and relate our discoveries and shared experiences to others who will be
born into this world a long time after we have left it behind. Our ability to
process symbols and meaning from religious tchotchkes, jewellery, and icons is a
skill that has helped us create the world’s great civilizations—it is what makes
us Homo sapiens.
With
the invention of the written word, there is nevertheless a mindboggling paradox
that presents itself: The Gordian knot that I am referring to is that while
humans invented writing (thus marking the birth of History), it is an invention
that has also seemingly made us into unwilling prisoners of the ideological
systems that the alphabet has helped
create. Writing has made us out to be prisoners
of History. When the alphabet was invented, Homo symbolicum basically
invented himself, and our own perceived sense of reality.
To learn more about how the invention of
writing has helped shape the world we live in, please check out my short
documentary (approx. 40 min.) Homo Symbolicum and the
Written Word: Perpetuating the Human Mind After Death (link below). The main impetus behind this video
presentation was discussions I have had with others in relation to my book
Deciphering the Proto-Sinaitic Script. The questions I have received and
interest shown regarding the wider subject of
the history of the alphabet has compelled me to expand on the topic.
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