Effects of the Written Language on the Non-Textual World

In our last three articles, we declared texts independent from non-texts; we also pointed out the qualities and properties of science are determined by the written language. We now go on to study how the written language influences the non-textual world. We start from shifting the center of the world from non-texts to texts.

Our discussions are based on the world that exists in the mind, which controls human behavior.

1. A text-centered model of the world

With clarity and simplicity, texts accumulate sequentially to make up a clearer and detailed world, through longtime and intensive reading and textual thinking. On the contrary, complex, fragmented and accidental non-texts are unable to accumulate with the same level of rigor. As a result, non-texts are integrated into the accumulated textual frame, forming a texts-centered model. Texts determine the scope and size of the model, whilst non-texts display the looks of the surface.

The association between texts and non-texts is dynamic, with both texts and non-texts evolving, created and emerging. The models of varying systems are built of accumulations and associations over time and interactions between individuals.

The principles in theories, discoveries and inventions are not necessarily natural, but experimental, by integrating whatever desirable to humans into the textual frame, regardless of whether they would occur naturally. The principles are themselves results of rigorous mental processing of texts. The texts become unseen details of complex non-textual creations. They are the hidden components - the "reliable magic" behind the creativities.

2. Text's effects on non-text

Given the text-centered model, the effects of texts on non-texts are determined by the visual characteristics of texts and the associations between texts and non-texts. The associations are arbitrary, complex and couldn't be clearly defined, as one text may correspond to any non-text. However, non-texts are integrated into texts because of their necessity. That is, texts of imminent and basic needs integrate first, while those of advanced needs come later. As a result, human societies advance continuously as the models grow.

The size of the established textual frame determines the amount and scope of creativity and productions based on existing non-texts. Due to arbitrary associations between texts and non-texts, this is of overall and statistical significance, not deterministic for individual occurrences.

The created non-texts can again be elements to integrate into the textual frame, however, they are unnatural and sustained by literate minds thus need to be created again when they expire and cease to function. When we combine components and use tools to create new products, the components and tools need to be created and maintained by literate minds unless they are directly from nature.

Printing, media, computer, programming, storage device, internet, telecommunication, etc. are all examples of the extension of the textual, computational, and patterned mind. They facilitate and speed up the direct realization of the textual mind with physical materials, strengthening and expanding text's governance.

3. Effects of different writing systems

The models of various systems can be made up of the same non-texts but distinct texts. Characteristics of the writing systems determine their distinct effects. Legibility of a writing system determines the potential of a model's established growth, both in depth and in breadth. The growth of an illegible[1] model is of less rigorous accumulation, less stability and less independence. Hence it has a potentially smaller size. An illegible system could present as much as or even more visual information than a legible one does. However, the sustainable elements of a model built by texts of an illegible system are less than the visual information it contains because of the confusion, conflicts, ambiguity, contradictions encountered in mental processing.

Provided the same existing non-texts to work on, products of legible systems are more sophisticated with higher quality than those of illegible systems because the products are composed of textual frames of greater detail.

Products are more abundant in legible systems than in illegible ones. Although it seems that non-textual creations in illegible systems can accumulate as much as those in legible systems as they appear in physical existence, they are reliant on nature or legible systems, since no writing system is in complete isolation today.

For the same writing system, quality of the created world would remain the same for centuries if the system itself doesn't evolve. The technological advancements, such as quantum communication and artificial intelligence, are quantitative progress of the model, however complex they might look.

Models of writing systems are competing, conflicting and converging. Writing systems are responsible for the divide and integration of their people and societies in all aspects, e.g. science, law, politics, education, trade, and economics.

4. Evolution of the world, and the future

Evolution of the human world was due to creations that were enabled by visual thinking. Since the advent of writing, the evolution was built upon accumulations of texts. That is, growth of the models directed by human desire.

Mass literacy and alphabetization, particularly Latinization, have led to the text's pervasion and governance of the world. Alphabetization is of great significance as it allows sequential, discrete, and simplistic mental processing.

Our future is both predictable and unpredictable (certain and uncertain). The textual portion of the model is likely predictable, while the non-textual portion is unpredictable. Qualitative future of the world is related to evolution of writing systems. Quantitative future of the world is the growths of models. English-centered models are growing in the forefront and leading the world's evolution.

Conclusion

The effects of texts are omnipresent, tremendous and fundamental to the human world. It remains a daunting task ahead to deepen and expand the investigations.

[1] "Legible" and "illegible" are used as relative terms.

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