In the context of software development, language-agnostic means something is designed to be independent of any specific programming language. It implies that the underlying concept, algorithm, or system works the same way regardless of the programming language used for implementation.
What is it with so many neo-nazi marches lately? So much skin-based nonsense and "protect our culture" bullshit over the last decade. Yeah I get that people identify with a whole lot of random shit that they had no say in and often played no part in, but at some point, will we ever grow the fuck up?
It won't be too long until humans are language agnostic.
And when we are, I just wonder what that would mean for culture as we know it, considering so much of it is tied to language. Essentially, once everyone can talk directly to one another and can't talk in front of others in a different language, a whole lot of issues both arise, and get swept away simultaneously. There will no longer be the "lost in translation" excuse.
But removing language barriers also removes a lot of protections for culture, which means a more diverse group of people can interact and learn from a culture, but also influence that culture too. Which brings up the obvious problem with "protecting our way of living" because in order to successfully protect a way of life, it means that the way can no longer change and evolve. This means that the way of that life, is death.
As I see it, as soon as there is a common language, we are able to take large leaps forward as a society, because we aren't reliant on the "negotiators" (governments) to do the deals for us. We are able to do more for ourselves, and deal far more directly. It is like in the fantasy books where orcs, humans, elves, and trolls, all speak a common tongue. They have a trade language. But it isn't the trade of goods and services that will be most valuable for humanity, it will be the trade of experiences.
A lot of companies talk about the "value of diversity" as if it is about skin colour and sexual orientation, but that is silly, because you aren't even allowed to talk about those things in the workplace. The value of diversity is in the skills and experiences a persona brings into the company. The company by default should be skin colour, sex and sexual orientation agnostic, unless there is some good reason not to be. And once language translation is at a high enough level (it needn't be perfect, because communication is never perfect, even in the same language), then the company should become language agnostic also - and hire the best people for the job, regardless of the languages they can or can't speak.
Essentially, technology should be bringing down barriers of communication and allowing us to have more options. But this also exposes previously language-protected communities too. And this creates many of the problems we see in society. For instance, 200 years ago "mass migration" wasn't an issue, because mass anything was pretty bloody difficult. People would filter here and there, a bit at a time, over the space of decades. The cost of migration was high.
But now we live in a digitally connected world, where it is possible to move over the other side of the globe and still talk to family and friends in real-time. And it is possible to work in multiple time zones, and trade value back and forth in an instant across borders, and transfer wealth in a few clicks - but we expect culture to stay the same?
What culture do you want to preserve?
Like a cured meat? Stick it in a can with a bunch of salt? But the problem with preserving a culture, is that none of us live in a single culture and are constantly moving amongst multiple, often simultaneously, without it really registering. This means that one part of our life is compared to all other parts of our life and, we are going to carry all other parts of our life into each individual part.
We change our culture.
Because mixing gives a better experience.
Yet there we are, marching in the streets, trying to save something that is unsalvageable, because it is always moving. There is no culture to save, because culture is always going to change, until it is dead, buried and forgotten. And at that point, there is no one left to care.
Instead of protecting memories of the past, we should be building something fucking awesome for the future. We just haven't grown up enough yet, I guess.
Taraz
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