September 22, 2005
A Discussion Concerning Moinous’ Tongues
--hey do you know that I speak tongues --
--yes I know -- you told me before -- don’t you remember -- you even spoke tongues to me --
--that’s right -- but do you know what I’m doing now with my tongues --
--swallowing them –
--no – seriously – I’m recording them – every time I start talking tongues I record what I’m saying –
--what are you going to do with these recorded tongues -- nobody will understand them –
--perhaps not in our time – but in the future someone will find my recordings and decipher my tongues –
--you’re full of delusions – tongues cannot be deciphered – they are private – they belong solely to the person who speaks them – only that person could decipher them-- but that’s not possible because the one who speaks tongues himself does not understand what he is saying --
--how do you know that –
--it’s well known that a speaker of tongues doesn’t understand what he says –
--that’s the beauty of tongues -- their incomprehensibility -- their mysterious nonsense –
--so why record them –
--because I am convinced that in the far future -- let’s say in the 28th century -- someone is going to find my recordings and decipher my tongues and in so doing give them meaning –
--and how will that genius do that – with the help of some logorobot – but I don’t think he will succeed -- even with high-tech gizmos –
--no – the deciphering will not be done with high-tech stuff – that guy in the future will do it with his own imagination and perseverance –
--could you explain how he will do that –
--simple -- first he will listen to the tapes -- then he will learn by heart the tongues I recorded on those tapes –
--and he won’t understand a fucking thing –
--at first he just listens -- doesn’t matter if he understands or not --- he simply learns the sounds of those tongues -- he gets those sounds inside of him –
--that might give him an upset stomach – the guy might start defecating your sounds –
--stop joking – listen -- I have the whole thing worked out –
--okay go ahead explain -- I am all ears to the sounds of your tongues –
--once the guy has learned by heart all the tongues recorded on the cassettes he starts speaking them slowly sound by sound – and each time he speaks a sound – in his own language of course -- a language unknown to us --- we cannot assume that all future languages will be the same as ours – this is not a Hollywood story -- just as some languages die others are born – so as he speaks the sounds he has learned from the cassettes he gives each of them a name and in so doing also a meaning –
--what a tedious boring activity it will be for that poor guy to name all these sounds – if he has to name each one as he speaks it it’ll take him a lifetime to assign a name to all the sounds he now has in him – the guy might die before he’s finished speaking all the cassettes -- by the way how many of these cassettes have you recorded so far –
--336 – all of them 120 minute tapes – by the way the guy won’t die before he finishes because by the 28th century humanity would have developed an anti-death cure --
--wow -- 336 already – and I assume there will be more – I’m not going to say anything about your anti-death cure -- we can discuss that another time --
--yes, of course, I’ll keep on recording my tongues until I can speak them no more or until something mortal happens to me – whichever happens first --
--so imagine the poor guy sitting there -- on whatever planet he may be -- we cannot assume -- of course -- that the genius guy who will find the Jule cassettes will be from this planet --
--certainly not -- he will be from somewhere in the universe – perhaps some other galaxy – while traveling in space he lands on the dead planet earth and there finds the Jule cassettes buried in the ground in some metallic box --
--how dramatic -- but okay let’s imagine him having in front of him thousands of Jule cassettes – listening to each one and memorizing each sound of these tongues and then speaking them and then assigning a meaning to each syllable – Jule I think it’ll take several generations of obsessed guys like this to finish such a task – but to what purpose – that is the question –
--to what purpose – first to try and understand what Jule was saying when he spoke tongues -- and second to have a new and much richer language to speak since tongues as such are always plural --
--okay so the guy has now named all the sounds of Jule’s tongues – that does not mean he understands what Jule was saying -- he understands only the sense he has given to these sounds -- he’s the only one who understands what he is saying – or thinks he understand that new language – but what good does it do him if no one else understands what he is saying – he is trapped in incomprehensibility --
--oh he is not alone for long because he starts teaching that new language to his family his friends his co-workers – to the entire population of the planet where he lives – it becomes his mission -- he devotes his entire energy – he spends the rest of his immortality teaching that new tongue to all the people on his planet -- and gradually they forget their own tongue and speak only what they now call juletongue.
--hey – it’s genial the story of your tongues – a new language called juletongue –
--maybe I was destined to be the origin of that new language – I was chosen as the recipient and the dispatcher --
--chosen by whom –
--by the inventor of the universe – but that’s another story – in a way as a recipient and dispatcher of tongues I am just a short story within a immense story – the story of the universe --
--fantastic jule – you amaze me – and you know what -- I think all languages happen like that -- by a mere recycling of old tongues by some logo-fanatic – in fact the tongue you and I are speaking right now may have come from some previous incomprehensible tongues –
--exactly what I was trying to tell you – but in a fictitious fashion –
--you amaze – you know -- this story of your tongues would make a great sci-fi movie --
[Note: See COMMENTS for full transcriptions of The World's 2nd LIVE CHAT with Federman. Thanks to all who participated in this hysterical event. Er, historical event.]
--hey do you know that I speak tongues --
--yes I know -- you told me before -- don’t you remember -- you even spoke tongues to me --
--that’s right -- but do you know what I’m doing now with my tongues --
--swallowing them –
--no – seriously – I’m recording them – every time I start talking tongues I record what I’m saying –
--what are you going to do with these recorded tongues -- nobody will understand them –
--perhaps not in our time – but in the future someone will find my recordings and decipher my tongues –
--you’re full of delusions – tongues cannot be deciphered – they are private – they belong solely to the person who speaks them – only that person could decipher them-- but that’s not possible because the one who speaks tongues himself does not understand what he is saying --
--how do you know that –
--it’s well known that a speaker of tongues doesn’t understand what he says –
--that’s the beauty of tongues -- their incomprehensibility -- their mysterious nonsense –
--so why record them –
--because I am convinced that in the far future -- let’s say in the 28th century -- someone is going to find my recordings and decipher my tongues and in so doing give them meaning –
--and how will that genius do that – with the help of some logorobot – but I don’t think he will succeed -- even with high-tech gizmos –
--no – the deciphering will not be done with high-tech stuff – that guy in the future will do it with his own imagination and perseverance –
--could you explain how he will do that –
--simple -- first he will listen to the tapes -- then he will learn by heart the tongues I recorded on those tapes –
--and he won’t understand a fucking thing –
--at first he just listens -- doesn’t matter if he understands or not --- he simply learns the sounds of those tongues -- he gets those sounds inside of him –
--that might give him an upset stomach – the guy might start defecating your sounds –
--stop joking – listen -- I have the whole thing worked out –
--okay go ahead explain -- I am all ears to the sounds of your tongues –
--once the guy has learned by heart all the tongues recorded on the cassettes he starts speaking them slowly sound by sound – and each time he speaks a sound – in his own language of course -- a language unknown to us --- we cannot assume that all future languages will be the same as ours – this is not a Hollywood story -- just as some languages die others are born – so as he speaks the sounds he has learned from the cassettes he gives each of them a name and in so doing also a meaning –
--what a tedious boring activity it will be for that poor guy to name all these sounds – if he has to name each one as he speaks it it’ll take him a lifetime to assign a name to all the sounds he now has in him – the guy might die before he’s finished speaking all the cassettes -- by the way how many of these cassettes have you recorded so far –
--336 – all of them 120 minute tapes – by the way the guy won’t die before he finishes because by the 28th century humanity would have developed an anti-death cure --
--wow -- 336 already – and I assume there will be more – I’m not going to say anything about your anti-death cure -- we can discuss that another time --
--yes, of course, I’ll keep on recording my tongues until I can speak them no more or until something mortal happens to me – whichever happens first --
--so imagine the poor guy sitting there -- on whatever planet he may be -- we cannot assume -- of course -- that the genius guy who will find the Jule cassettes will be from this planet --
--certainly not -- he will be from somewhere in the universe – perhaps some other galaxy – while traveling in space he lands on the dead planet earth and there finds the Jule cassettes buried in the ground in some metallic box --
--how dramatic -- but okay let’s imagine him having in front of him thousands of Jule cassettes – listening to each one and memorizing each sound of these tongues and then speaking them and then assigning a meaning to each syllable – Jule I think it’ll take several generations of obsessed guys like this to finish such a task – but to what purpose – that is the question –
--to what purpose – first to try and understand what Jule was saying when he spoke tongues -- and second to have a new and much richer language to speak since tongues as such are always plural --
--okay so the guy has now named all the sounds of Jule’s tongues – that does not mean he understands what Jule was saying -- he understands only the sense he has given to these sounds -- he’s the only one who understands what he is saying – or thinks he understand that new language – but what good does it do him if no one else understands what he is saying – he is trapped in incomprehensibility --
--oh he is not alone for long because he starts teaching that new language to his family his friends his co-workers – to the entire population of the planet where he lives – it becomes his mission -- he devotes his entire energy – he spends the rest of his immortality teaching that new tongue to all the people on his planet -- and gradually they forget their own tongue and speak only what they now call juletongue.
--hey – it’s genial the story of your tongues – a new language called juletongue –
--maybe I was destined to be the origin of that new language – I was chosen as the recipient and the dispatcher --
--chosen by whom –
--by the inventor of the universe – but that’s another story – in a way as a recipient and dispatcher of tongues I am just a short story within a immense story – the story of the universe --
--fantastic jule – you amaze me – and you know what -- I think all languages happen like that -- by a mere recycling of old tongues by some logo-fanatic – in fact the tongue you and I are speaking right now may have come from some previous incomprehensible tongues –
--exactly what I was trying to tell you – but in a fictitious fashion –
--you amaze – you know -- this story of your tongues would make a great sci-fi movie --
[Note: See COMMENTS for full transcriptions of The World's 2nd LIVE CHAT with Federman. Thanks to all who participated in this hysterical event. Er, historical event.]
