Today I'm going to return to a psychological/philosophical topic: words and thinking. I'll elaborate more below, but the main way this all relates to COVID-19 is that the primary way most of us understand what's going on is through words.

Words are great for lots of things, but they have their limitations. There are many non-verbal ways to think about stuff, e.g. spatially, in terms of math, through working with programing languages, kinaesthetically, etc.

The danger of thinking about things mainly (or exclusively) in verbal terms is the ease at which words can be associated with emotions. While we think we are learning about the world, we can easily get wrapped up in somebody's "Matrix of words" ². The lock-in policies of governments around the world are making words increasingly important because words are now serving—more than ever—as the main interface by which people are finding out about the world beyond their locked-in doors.

Words as an interface to understand the world

Lock-in policies mean people learn about more and more things indirectly/vicariously through words. We are not going outside and observing things directly as much as before; we are taking what people say to us on faith.

The nature of COVID-19 exacerbates this situation. COVID-19 is an "invisible enemy" ¹; we can't see it like we might see flying saucers in the sky or giant sea monsters at our coasts. It is even less visceral than climate change, which we can see in pictures of sad polar bears.

Words are everywhere

Words permeate thinking in lots and lots of places. Here's some examples,

• Songs as the most popular form of music; music set to lyrics
• Videos associate words with images
• Verbal Explanations—using "different words" to try to express the meanings of some words
• Mantras—repeating words, strongly associating them with some mental state

As the old saying goes, "you can't believe everything you see in (the) movies". Likewise, we have the more modern saying, "you can't believe everything you read on the Internet".

These "common sense" statements reveal an often forgotten truth. Things like books and films don't have to "obey reality" in the same way that... we must respect gravity. People can say and show all sorts of things.

The media we consume, the verbal explanations we hear, and the mantras we repeat contribute to our verbal <-> emotional mapping. This is inescapable; insofar as you speak a language, words are going to affect you. What we can control, however, is the inputs we consume to inform our own mappings.

Responding to "Hyperverbalism"

I think that is important to do "non-verbal activities". Here's some examples:

• Instrumental music
• Workout/exercise (try without music/podcasts/etc)
• Drawing/painting (do visual arts; see shapes and stuff rather than trying to point out things you have words for like "eyes" and "mouth") ³
• Math
• Programing (think in the programing language as opposed to English or whatever language you default to) ⁴

The problem with being "hyperverbal" is that you are easily controlled because the use of such-and-such trigger words gives pretty consistent emotional responses. Think of a person you know that is particularly vulnerable to "it's not what you said, it's how you said it".

Practicing observing reality in ways that aren't mediated by words is helpful to protect yourself from emotional manipulation and to also see new things that the words you conceptualize the world with may have previously concealed from you.

Moar Media and Notes

Below are some readings/videos that have influenced my thinking on these topics

• "Were the Ancients Morons? (Translation and Mindset)" (Luke Smith; January 29, 2019)
• *Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Betty Edwards; 1979)
• "On 'primitive' languages in linguistic theory" (Roy Harris; 2010)
• Linguist Roy Harris on monolingual dictionaries; don't have specific references now
• N.T. Taleb has treated the topics discussed here; don't have specific references now

There was some Luke Smith video that talked specifically about people who only "think in words", but I can't find it at this time.