Can words affect reality?

So what's really going on?

Moderators: AMod, iMod

User avatar
attofishpi
Posts: 9956
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:10 am
Location: Orion Spur
Contact:

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by attofishpi »

Walker wrote:They can also help along the realization that you are not this body only. From the time they could walk, I’ve addressed my children as Miss and Sir, and I didn't name my boys Sue. Later came Ma’am for the ladies. And I always told them the good things they were doing, and why what they were doing is good. Something amazing happened. They did what I said, they are happy, and they are strong. Since they were the oldest cousins, their aunts and uncles looked to them as role models for their own. And so it goes.
Absolutely, with parenting it comes down a lot to do with building respect. My father was very strict and instilled little respect from me. My sisters kids boy and girl were raised without any form of hitting\smacking. When i watched them being brought up i concluded that they had great respect for their mother, they viewed her similarly to a friend, and when they stepped out of line, my sister only had to tell them they did something wrong and you could see their reaction, i believe they felt like they were losing a friend, it was amazing! They are great kids!
Walker
Posts: 14280
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:00 am

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by Walker »

Yes, children and men need mother and wife to keep the balance.
cladking
Posts: 362
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:57 am

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by cladking »

Can words affect reality?
No longer.

Language was once universal and metaphysical. Speakers of the language might be thought of as "practitioners" because to the degree they understood the words and the situation they could manipulate reality to their own ends. They called these the "words of nature" and there was no hocus pocus involved. Modern language is metaphorical and representative and have neither direct nor indirect power except to the degree they are useful and true or that they are believed. If you yell "fire" in a theatre people will run if they believe you. If you commicate (successfully) a new hypothesis to a scientist he can incorporate it into theory, experiment, and observation.

There is and never was any "abracadabra" though there might be plenty of magic in the world.
Dalek Prime
Posts: 4922
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 4:48 am
Location: Living in a tree with Polly.

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by Dalek Prime »

You have to ask? "Turn left".

JC....
User avatar
Greta
Posts: 4389
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 8:10 am

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by Greta »

surreptitious57 wrote:Language describes reality instead of affecting it and that is because it is an abstract so is not real
And the same can be said of mathematics except there the signifiers are numbers instead of words
Language and mathematics are both part of reality, abstract parts of reality - and every part of reality affects some others. There are always feedback loops.

Both language and math started out purely as descriptions of reality as per your comment, but their use as tools by humans to describe reality has subsequently significantly changed reality. An example, think of how the media uses language to both report (describe) and make (affect) the news by swaying public opinion. Same with math. Without mathematics there'd be no engineering.

I suggest that abstractions like patterning, language and math are actually more potent than straight physicality, being the reason why a group of wimpy, hypersensitive, vulnerable and neurotic apes came to rule to planet and explore space. Humanity represents nature's nerds triumphing over its jocks - the keyboard really is mightier than the sword :)
cladking
Posts: 362
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:57 am

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by cladking »

Dalek Prime wrote:You have to ask? "Turn left".

JC....
Indeed!

But the world is chaotic and Who can not predict the results of making a bad turn.
Dalek Prime
Posts: 4922
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 4:48 am
Location: Living in a tree with Polly.

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by Dalek Prime »

cladking wrote:
Dalek Prime wrote:You have to ask? "Turn left".

JC....
Indeed!

But the world is chaotic and Who can not predict the results of making a bad turn.
Doesn't even need to be a wrong turn to impact reality. It could be the way I wanted to go, but my words had an effect on the reality of the person I was directing, including myself, no? It changed something nonetheless, regardless of outcome, and whether we could predict it.
cladking
Posts: 362
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:57 am

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by cladking »

Dalek Prime wrote: Doesn't even need to be a wrong turn to impact reality. It could be the way I wanted to go, but my words had an effect on the reality of the person I was directing, including myself, no? It changed something nonetheless, regardless of outcome, and whether we could predict it.

You're talking about the nature of reality here. If a butterfly flaps its wings in China there's a hurricane the next week. Everything is dependent on everything else and has ripple effects forward in time. Small scale events have massive effects eventually.

But I still can't directly will a butterfly to flap its wings or to affect it from here. Even if I could I can't predict the outcome of the event. Words are as hapless and unpredictable as the movement of the butterfly in the moment. I would suggest that if you say "turn left" you are merely suggesting the best possible course based on your equally limited knowledge of the situation. Of course this would presume you aren't giving me directions to a known location.
Last edited by cladking on Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dalek Prime
Posts: 4922
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 4:48 am
Location: Living in a tree with Polly.

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by Dalek Prime »

Dalek Prime wrote: But the world is chaotic and Who can not predict the results of making a bad turn.
Not my quote.
cladking
Posts: 362
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:57 am

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by cladking »

Dalek Prime wrote: Not my quote.

Fixed.
Dalek Prime
Posts: 4922
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 4:48 am
Location: Living in a tree with Polly.

Re: Can words affect reality?

Post by Dalek Prime »

Done it myself. Thank you.
Post Reply