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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @av OP 11 Mar \ parent \ on: Is umbrel home good for running bitcoin node? bitcoin_beginners
Thanks
Concerto for Horn
This concerto was written with Goldscheider in mind, and as Higgins explains, it plays "at the edge of what a horn can do". The concerto won the 2024 Ivors award.
Sadly the video is not the complete performance, but the cuts are sensitive, and the sections chosen well worth a listen.
So now we know you are using an iOS device to receive this newsletter and share it from that mobile on SN... So easy are people revealing their habits online... so wonderful for data grabbers !
Ah i found this read on substack app and got the link from there, just pasted it here. Should i have done something different? Any suggestions that could help me not reveal my habits online?
Agree! What makes the thought experiment valuable is precisely that it uses an accessible example to help us grasp the ungraspable concept of infinity. It's a teaching tool, not a prediction.
Your example about describing Venezuelan beaches is perfect! The difference isn't just in vocabulary or grammar - it's in the lived experience, emotional connection, cultural context, and even the animated way stories are told. A German might describe the beach with precise, accurate terminology, while someone from Venezuela might include sensory details, cultural significance, and embodied expressions that bring the experience to life in a completely different way.
This is a fascinating idea. We’re familiar with the idea of dialect as a subcategory of language. What blows my mind is the concept of idiolect; that no two of us share exactly the same linguistic fingerprint, and the associated idea of measuring mutually intelligibility between individuals. Why are some people just easier to communiciate with?
I think mutual intelligibility between individuals goes beyond just shared vocabulary or grammar. It encompasses shared references, similar thinking patterns, compatible communication styles, and even emotional resonance. Some people just "speak our language" in a deeper sense.
Deutscher's work is particularly interesting here because it positions language somewhere between the rigid universalist position of Chomsky and the extreme relativism of Whorf. We're shaped by our language, yet not imprisoned by it.
The question of why we connect more easily with certain people could be partially explained by overlapping idiolects—similar metaphorical frameworks, comparable abstracting tendencies, or even shared cultural touchpoints that enhance understanding. Perhaps measuring that overlap could quantify why some conversations flow effortlessly while others feel like translation work.
This excerpt was taken from “In search of lost time” specifically from the second volume “Within a budding grove”. I deliberately shared just this portion as it stands well on its own and invites reflection. The complete passage continues with more examples of how modern transportation altered our perception of distance and time, but these few lines effectively communicate the core insight about minutes becoming meaningful units of measurement in our daily lives once railways made punctuality essential.
In that book, I thought the color-thing of ancient Greeks was absolutely astonishing. They described the ocean as wine colored? Honey as green?!
This is indeed one of the most fascinating aspects of Deutscher's book! The way ancient Greeks described colors is mind-blowing - referring to the sea as "wine-dark" in Homer's works, and describing honey as "green" or "chloros" (which also meant fresh or alive).
These descriptions aren't just poetic quirks but possibly reflect how language shapes perception. The Greeks had different color categories than we do today - they focused more on luminosity and less on hue. Their color vocabulary evolved over time, just as all languages do, which might explain these seemingly strange descriptions.
It makes you wonder how much our own language filters our perception of reality today! What aspects of the world might we be missing simply because we lack the vocabulary for them?