Differential coding of perception in the world’s languages
I&#x27;d go out on a limb and speculate that much of existence was peviously described amid a fog of superstition, with only a handful of objective facts for primitive humans to draw consensus on.<p>Vocalization among animals finds its roots in high energy emotions, typically fear and rage. Barking, roaring, hissing. As you walk up the socialization gradient, vocalization gets combined with body language (raised hackles, charging), facial expressions (staring down with a domineering gaze, bearing teeth). Then, with inversions like group hunting tactics, coordination of remaining silent while stalking prey.<p>Highly social animals have a seemingly partial grasp of fair play. Performing tricks for rewards, or a pet ruining an owner&#x27;s bed as revenge for a slight. Most &quot;<i>pet</i>&quot; chimpanzee maulings are the consequence of a chimpanzee&#x27;s perception of a violation of status, noticing a peer enjoy briefly held favouritism, or a favorite toy transgressed by a stranger.<p>When it comes to perception of experience, and descriptions thereof, and objectively related concepts arrive <i>VARY</i> late to the party, so a null finding is unsurprising to me.<p>First you need counting and accounting, in order to quantify, and then to objectify, you you also need codification and enumeration. So already, you have prerequisites of intellect, before anything objective happens. This means writing and consistent phonemes, to establish conrete rules. But speech is operational and practical long before it becomes romanticized with experience.<p>People would be counting and naming discrete essentials as part of primitive trade, long before ascribing color to the sky. Indeed, color probably wasn&#x27;t important until decoration and desirable possessions became noteworthy. Interesting animal pelts, face paints, stone and shell beads and bird feathers.<p>Probably by the time leather and textiles are normative, you really begin to see vocabulary take off, but still, it&#x27;s not about what we sense, but material objects to be grasped.<p>Some of the object aspects of sensory description that took centuries to isolate are pretty subtle. How many colors are there? Only six, or many millions? Which parts of the world boast the highest variety of flavorful foods? Quanitfying tone scales, harmonics and other auditory details like timber and rhythm require not only complex materials to emit controlled sound, but also time pieces to measure duration and period.<p>Finally, we have centuries of superstition plagueing the discovery of facts as science. Is the earth round? What happens when we die? How did the world and universe come to be? Did an intelligence conjure us into existence by intent? When will the world end? Are we the most important thing? Is nothingness actually something?<p>So objectivity is not an incidental thing, even if experience is.