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1、Eachofyoupossessesthemostpowerful,dangerousandsubversivetraitthatnaturalselectionhaseverdevised.It'sapieceofneuralaudiotechnologyforrewiringotherpeople'sminds.I'mtalkingaboutyourlanguage,ofcourse,becauseitallowsyoutoimplantathoughtfromyourminddirectlyintosomeoneelse'smind,andtheycanattempttodothesa
2、metoyou,withouteitherofyouhavingtoperformsurgery.Instead,whenyouspeak,you'reactuallyusingaformoftelemetrynotsodifferentfromtheremotecontroldeviceforyourtelevision.It'sjustthat,whereasthatdevicereliesonpulsesofinfraredlight,yourlanguagereliesonpulses,discretepulses,ofsound.Andjustasyouusetheremoteco
3、ntroldevicetoaltertheinternalsettingsofyourtelevisiontosuityourmood,youuseyourlanguagetoalterthesettingsinsidesomeoneelse'sbraintosuityourinterests.Languagesaregenestalking,gettingthingsthattheywant.Andjustimaginethesenseofwonderinababywhenitfirstdiscoversthat,merelybyutteringasound,itcangetobjects
4、tomoveacrossaroomasifbymagic,andmaybeevenintoitsmouth.Nowlanguage'ssubversivepowerhasbeenrecognizedthroughouttheagesincensorship,inbooksyoucan'tread,phrasesyoucan'tuseandwordsyoucan'tsay.Infact,theTowerofBabelstoryintheBibleisafableandwarningaboutthepoweroflanguage.Accordingtothatstory,earlyhumansd
5、evelopedtheconceitthat,byusingtheirlanguagetoworktogether,theycouldbuildatowerthatwouldtakethemallthewaytoheaven.NowGod,angeredatthisattempttousurphispower,destroyedthetower,andthentoensurethatitwouldneverberebuilt,hescatteredthepeoplebygivingthemdifferentlanguages--confusedthembygivingthemdifferen
6、tlanguages.Andthisleadstothewonderfulironythatourlanguagesexisttopreventusfromcommunicating.Eventoday,weknowthattherearewordswecannotuse,phraseswecannotsay,becauseifwedoso,wemightbeaccosted,jailed,orevenkilled.Andallofthisfromapuffofairemanatingfromourmouths.Nowallthisfussaboutasingleoneofourtraits
7、tellsusthere'ssomethingworthexplaining.Andthatishowandwhydidthisremarkabletraitevolve,andwhydiditevolveonlyinourspecies?Nowit'salittlebitofasurprisethattogetananswertothatquestion,wehavetogototooluseinthech
