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ENGLEBART_KORZYBSKI_WHORF

                                                  July 19, 2021

Englebart in his 1962 proposal references both Korzybski
and Whorf:

    Korzybski, A, _Science and Sanity_, 1st
    Ed. (International non Aristotelian Library
    Publishing Co., Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1933)

    Whorf, B. L., _Language, Thought, and Reality_ (MIT &
    John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, N.Y., 1956)

Englebart, 1962:

    "It is undoubtedly true that concepts which people found useful
    ended up being symbolized in their language, and hence that the
    evolution of language was affected by the concepts the people
    developed and used.  However, Korzybski and Whorf (among others)
    have argued that the language we use affects our thinking to a
    considerable extent. They say that a lack of words for some types
    of concepts makes it hard to express those concepts, and thus
    decreases the likelihood that we will learn much about them."

Englebart is making a point here that should be obvious, but
often seems to get overlooked: the connections go both ways.
The need to say things drives a creation for words, and the
existence of words guides the things that you can say.

Stewart Brand circa the 1990s like to call things like this
"co-evolution": there's no neat division between individual
and environment, between foreground and background.
Everything adjusts to each other.

   "... the studies of the past decade into what are called
   'self-organizing' systems seem to be revealing that subtle
   relationships among its interacting elements can significantly
   influence the course of evolution of such a system."


   "The Whorfian hypothesis states that 'the world view of a
   culture is limited by the structure of the language which
   that culture uses.' ...  We offer the following hypothesis,
   which is related to the Whorfian hypothesis: Both the
   language used by a culture, and the capability for
   effective intellectual activity are directly affected
   during their evolution by the means by which individuals
   control the external manipulation of symbols"

So it's not just the language, it's also the "Literary Machines"
(to borrow a Ted Nelson phrase).



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