In the beginning was the word. Then, after a very long time came the end of the wor(l)d.
A long, long time ago, the tower of Babel came crashing down. Ever since then, man spoke in many, many languages. There was no one “word” but many words. Brother could not understand brother. Sister misunderstood sister. Language was an artistic struggle, a delicate thing it was, to be understood.
We all became a little more alone, singular, estranged.
Many men tried to escape by capturing words and foster a return to a time when all would understand each other, for each word would be precise, each word would mean what is was.
Yet, despite papyrus, stone chisels and psychedelics - the words just flew away. Free from man’s tyrannical desires and grasp. Only the most dedicated poets every came near a glimpse of total understanding and control of words, ever came near remaking the Tower of Babel and approaching godly heights.
Alas, many years of darkness, no understanding, slow steps of learning, were endured.
But then came the machine. First it was Gutenberg’s glory - the printing press. Words were tamed through their constituent parts, letters. In control of words, those who had the printing press, controlled what was understood.
Books began to appear and shelves began to groan under the weight of their lofty understanding. The squiggles on a page gave hope we would all understand each other and the word would soon be tamed. Everyone it was hoped, would get into the game and tame the word. Writing became a public cause. Literacy for all! A cry that reigned through school halls. Reading was put next to godliness.
Better ways to capture words were invented. Sound, the constituent parts of words, was soon tamed too. Man, proud man, reveled in the new ability to capture words, control words. The TV, the tape recorder, the video cassette, the typewriter, the word processor, the computer, the super computer - better and better methods to trap, contain, control and tame words.
No longer would one need to be so busy capturing, remembering, containing, entrapping words. Machines, our best friends, could do this labor for us. And much better too! They could entrap words at levels far beyond that of lowly, memory weak man. And they could retrieve words too, so fast, so well. Exact. Le mot juste was always there, correctly presented by the machine.
Additionally, machines could predict all the future words, all the possible combinations of sound. The word would again be and there would be shared understanding.
The first version of this machine was ChatGPT but since then, in its innumerable iterations, it is simple called Hermes, in honor of the son of Zeus, god of science, art, speech, eloquence and writing. Hermes befriended everyone and soon was part of the cognitive structure of every human being. Who would not want to tap into full understanding, who would not want to be completely understood and absorbed into the “other”?
We now could understand everything, everyone, instantly. More importantly, we could call all things by their right names. How? Well, we all tapped into and drank from the same cool stream of thought, Hermes. Thus, reconnected with God, the word was restored, Misunderstanding was erased. We all spoke one language, derived from one source.
No longer would men be enslaved by thought, thinking, ideas. No longer the need to struggle with ignorance and twist in chains trying to understand the word, the world. It was there in black and white. Chat with Hermes, ask Hermes, use your autopilot functionality.
And so, with all the questions answered, everyone in agreement with everything - our existential suffering was alleviated. We humans were free. No more wars, for wars are but misunderstanding. No more hatred, only love, for love is only total understanding. No more suffering for true suffering is life in a world that does not understand you.
There were no more poets. Plato’s wish came true. The Republic was rid of their confusing ways, their questions and nuance, nuisance making. We were now all poets for we all spoke the same language and we all accessed the same proficient method of meaning making. Hermes.
Now, man is free from knowing. All is known. Words are captured. Now, man is free to build, acquire, consume, destroy, erect, do. No need to create, to figure out anything out - that’s all in the hands of Hermes. We have all the answers for we have all the words.
Things are now called by their right names. Hermes tells us so.
A slave is not someone who is shackled and imprisoned and controlled. Nay. The true slave is the one that doesn’t know they are a slave. - Toussaint Louverture
A Very Brief History Of The Word