Monday, March 15, 2010

Future of Dream Speech, Psychadelic Tongues?

"It might be mentioned here that a successful research program on the forms of dream expression modeled on the theory of language developed by Chomsky and other linguists in his wake would perhaps make it possible to move on to an investigation of the relationship between the forms of dream expression and the syntactic forms of language. And although, in Chomsky's view, one would expect to find the same representations and the same principles in such different mental activities as dreams and language, he does not think it is at all unreasonable "to search for a more abstract relation between the two systems."
In this light it is perhaps easier to begin to understand the immense importance of Chomsky's achievement in the history of civilization. The fact that there is still not much awareness of it tells us something about the prevailing intellectual and moral culture. Yet it is something that should not be ignored by those that are omitted to bringing about a better world and who have every intention of using the main resources that can help reach that goal.
It was been repeatedly pointed out that, to have a real chance of success, not only the moral but also the intellectual level of a radical movement would have to be far higher than in the past. Activists, like other people who are involved in education and social analysis, have much to gain if they keep an eye on what is happening in the sciences, particularly the most relevant sciences, and the most relevant to the work of an activist are the cognitive sciences. Anyone trying to educated himself and help educate others would be well advised to be acquainted with at least some of the most basic knowledge about human nature available today. When it comes to working for progressive social change, ignorance is certainly no more helpful than it has always been."

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