Communication

Imagination and communication are what sets humans apart from all other animals. To increase your chances of success focus on sharpening the ability to run images in your brain (imagination) plus the ability to share those images with other brains in your community (communication).

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Presumably many other animals, if not all, have the capacity of running images in their brains. After all, the reality that each animal species perceive is just a segment of the stimuli out there. And the fact that we may perceive something a certain way does not mean that it is exactly that way. Colors, for example, do not really exist, but are simply how our brains process variations in the light spectrum that reflects from surfaces and enters our eyes. 

We see with our brains, not our eyes. What we "see" is not what is out there, but rather the projections generated by our brains after the external light input is received by the eyes and processed by the brain. Healthy and non-impaired humans see or experience the same or very similar reality because we have the same receiver, processor, and projector (the human brain). 

Humans also have the ability to project images on top of other images or based on imaginary input. That is, in addition to projecting the images processed based on the "objective" external stimuli, we can project our own images based on internal subjective stimuli independent of the external one. In other words, we can use imagination on top of imagination. For example, your brain can project the image of the green tree that all other humans with similar brains "see". Your brain can also imagine on its own that the green tree turns to red, is cut down, flies to the sky, burst into flames, and whatever else your brain wants to imagine on top of other images. 

Presumably agains other animals can also develop images on top of other images projected by their brains. Other animals may have internal subjective imagination also to complement the external "objective" reality they perceive. We don't know. 

What we do know is that if it were for our imagination capacity alone, humans would not be on top of the food chain on planet Earth. Humans are on top due to the ability to communicate our imagination. The ability to share with other brains the images in our own brain is what sets us apart. That ability is based on the communication technologies (tools and methods) that we have developed over the years. That communication technology is what we refer to as languages. 

Humans use body language, oral language, written language, and nowadays digital language. All these are coding systems. In body language, a posture or a gesture is given a meaning. A combination of postures and gestures is given combined meaning. In oral language, a sound or a combination of sounds is given a meaning. If the receiving brain knows the language, the sounds are processed into meanings. The same applies to written languages. The written language can be a set of symbols or graphical representations of reality, or the written marks can represent sounds as in alphabets. If the receiving brain has been instructed in the language, the brain can processed the symbols or alphabetic representations into meanings. 

Fairly recently in our history, humans developed a digital language or coding system. In the digital language, things are converted into series of digits for processing and interpretation by machines. The machines processing the computations are called processors or computers. 

Computers and their processors receive binary digital input (sets of ones and zeros), and process it according to programmed rules into different binary digital output (other sets of ones and zeros) that may have a different meaning or end result. Again, an input is converted into ones and zeros. It is fed into a computational machine for processing according to programmed rules. After processing, the new set of ones and zeros is read or interpreted by the machine into a particular output or result. 

The advantage of digital language processing by processors and computational machines is the speed of processing. Computer processors are significantly faster processing digits than our brains processing analog signals. 

The disadvantage of digital data processing today is that we need an interface display or screen where to the output is projected. That's why humans are stuck to computer screens, computerized phone screens, and TV screens. Soon the digital data will be projected in front of us into a glasses or contact lenses, and into holographic light imagery. That will liberate our hands and free part of our attention span as the analog "objective" reality in front of us is merged with the digital reality. That integration is part of the future of the digitalization of everything, which is still just beginning. 

More to follow on this topic. Stay tuned.

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