The emoticon turns 25

[Darrell Hougen]

Hi,

This is apparently the 25th anniversary of the emoticon:

http://news.aol.com/business/story/_a/digi...918092309990001

The article itself is sort of interesting. People now use emoticons all the time, at least in non-serious conversation. But, what I found curious was the comment of a Stanford University professor: "Emoticons reflect the likely original purpose of language - to enable people to express emotion, said Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University. The emotion behind a written sentence may be hard to discern because emotion is often conveyed through tone of voice, he said."

Is that really the original purpose of language? Or, was the real purpose to convey ideas or thoughts? In fact, isn't language necessary to conceptualize ideas or thoughts in the first place? That is my position, the view of Rand, and the accepted position of Objectivism. Unfortunately, the comments of professor Nass represent nothing but the liberal anti-intellectualism that infects our universities.

Darrell

[Laure]

I'd say the expression of emotion was the purpose of the precursor of language -- animal noises. Developed human language allows us to express ideas and emotions. Emoticons make it easier to express emotions in a dashed-off message, without the need to search for just the right words with just the right emotional nuances.

Good to see you, Darrell.

[BAMF]

[Darrell Hougen]

I'd say the expression of emotion was the purpose of the precursor of language -- animal noises. Developed human language allows us to express ideas and emotions. Emoticons make it easier to express emotions in a dashed-off message, without the need to search for just the right words with just the right emotional nuances.

Hi Laurie,

I thought about that. However, even animal noises are meant to communicate information other than just emotional state. A growl doesn't just mean, "I'm angry." It means, "Stay back or I might lash out at you."

Looking at it the other way around, every cognitive state results in an emotional state with more complex cognitive states resulting in more subtle or subdued emotions. But the purpose of language is not primarily to convey those emotions, it is to convey the underlying cognitive state. An animal possesses only a few primitive cognitive states and therefore needs only a few noises to convey them. But the purpose is still to convey the cognitive state and not necessarily the emotion.

For example, an expression of anger is a way for one animal to warn another animal to expect a fight if the other animal takes things too far. If the other animal heeds the warning, both animals can avoid physical contact and possible injury. Thus, the purpose of the growling animal is to warn off the other animal, not just to tell the other animal that it feels angry.

Darrell