{"id":55,"date":"2017-05-04T21:38:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T21:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/writehere\/?post_type=chapter&p=55"},"modified":"2018-07-11T13:34:22","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T13:34:22","slug":"chapter-1-reading-and-activity","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/chapter\/chapter-1-reading-and-activity\/","title":{"raw":"Your Turn!","rendered":"Your Turn!"},"content":{"raw":"
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Activity<\/h3>\r\nRead the following essay and, on a separate piece of paper, identify 7-10 interesting words<\/strong>, 7-10 definitions of new words<\/strong>, 7-10 lists of synonyms<\/strong>, 7-10 contrasts<\/strong>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n

The Ultimate Communications App<\/strong><\/h1>\r\nThe most amazing invention of all-time, and it belongs to all of us<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCharles Justice<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSource: On the Commons, The Ultimate Communications App<\/a>\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve just invented a new communication app. It can be used by almost everyone; It works anywhere and anytime, night or day; It doesn\u2019t need batteries, doesn\u2019t need to be plugged in, \u00a0doesn\u2019t even need the internet; Once people start using it, it is so easy that it is almost impossible to stop using it; \u00a0it becomes indispensable, and you are hooked, you cannot be without it; It can be tailored to suit any occasion; Its use facilitates an expanding network of people; It\u2019s use opens up incredible possibilities for creativity and cooperation.\r\n\r\nThere are only two things that may be problematic with it: my new app takes about four years to download. Yes, you heard correctly, not four minutes but four years. And usually, only ridiculously \u00a0young kids know how to download it, but, like I said it takes about four years. During that time, the system needs constant maintenance and TLC. The other snag is that once someone starts using it, it becomes common property, available to everyone free, and so I personally, can\u2019t get rich off of it.\r\n\r\nAre you ready to try my new free app? It\u2019s called language. OK, I lied. It\u2019s not a \u00a0new app and I didn\u2019t invent it. But everything else I said about it is true, and it was invented by the first humans sometime within the last five hundred thousand years.\r\n\r\nWhat is language? A method of communication that is available to virtually all humans to use. A common way for us to share information and create enduring knowledge. One of the first, but not the first commons created by human collective agreement.\r\n\r\nTake a proto-language \u00a0\u201cMe Tarzan, you Jane\u201d. Start with naming, then add verbs to describe action and emotions. Once you begin to share information you are creating a common space of understanding amongst you and your fellow speakers. This common space can be called a commons.\r\n\r\nWhat is a commons? A commons is a level-playing field. Everybody gets to breathe air, and we have that in common with most other species. Here in the rain forests of the \u00a0Pacific Northwest, fresh water is a common resource.\r\n\r\nWe parcel up land into properties, but much land is held in common in the form of parks, trackless wilderness, public rights of way and public spaces. The sunlight that falls to earth is common to all, plants and animals on land, fish and the whales in the sea.\r\n\r\nBefore the human development of agriculture and domestication humans lived for millions of years in hunter-gatherer bands of approximately thirty to a hundred \u00a0people. If the band survived and prospered, eventually, as population grew over generations, a new band would split off. As this process continued, a larger and larger area of land would need to be occupied.\r\n\r\nEventually groups that originally were connected, would become separated permanently by mountains or water barriers. Originally we had everything in common. Then because of our success in outgrowing our original environment we ceased to have a common place and identity.\r\n\r\nThis is probably the basis for the evolution of different languages (see \u201cTower of Babel\u201d) \u00a0If we go back far enough in time, all of us living today have a common history, but over thousands of years different peoples occupying different places have come to conflict and cooperation with each other.\r\n\r\nEach of us has our humanity and human origins in common with everyone else alive today. Since then, we may have got here in different ways, but we all share the present time in common. We, in fact, share this age in common with the Earth\u2019s biosphere and all its manifest diversity.\r\n\r\nRepublished here under Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

Activity<\/h3>\n

Read the following essay and, on a separate piece of paper, identify 7-10 interesting words<\/strong>, 7-10 definitions of new words<\/strong>, 7-10 lists of synonyms<\/strong>, 7-10 contrasts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Ultimate Communications App<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The most amazing invention of all-time, and it belongs to all of us<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source: On the Commons, The Ultimate Communications App<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just invented a new communication app. It can be used by almost everyone; It works anywhere and anytime, night or day; It doesn\u2019t need batteries, doesn\u2019t need to be plugged in, \u00a0doesn\u2019t even need the internet; Once people start using it, it is so easy that it is almost impossible to stop using it; \u00a0it becomes indispensable, and you are hooked, you cannot be without it; It can be tailored to suit any occasion; Its use facilitates an expanding network of people; It\u2019s use opens up incredible possibilities for creativity and cooperation.<\/p>\n

There are only two things that may be problematic with it: my new app takes about four years to download. Yes, you heard correctly, not four minutes but four years. And usually, only ridiculously \u00a0young kids know how to download it, but, like I said it takes about four years. During that time, the system needs constant maintenance and TLC. The other snag is that once someone starts using it, it becomes common property, available to everyone free, and so I personally, can\u2019t get rich off of it.<\/p>\n

Are you ready to try my new free app? It\u2019s called language. OK, I lied. It\u2019s not a \u00a0new app and I didn\u2019t invent it. But everything else I said about it is true, and it was invented by the first humans sometime within the last five hundred thousand years.<\/p>\n

What is language? A method of communication that is available to virtually all humans to use. A common way for us to share information and create enduring knowledge. One of the first, but not the first commons created by human collective agreement.<\/p>\n

Take a proto-language \u00a0\u201cMe Tarzan, you Jane\u201d. Start with naming, then add verbs to describe action and emotions. Once you begin to share information you are creating a common space of understanding amongst you and your fellow speakers. This common space can be called a commons.<\/p>\n

What is a commons? A commons is a level-playing field. Everybody gets to breathe air, and we have that in common with most other species. Here in the rain forests of the \u00a0Pacific Northwest, fresh water is a common resource.<\/p>\n

We parcel up land into properties, but much land is held in common in the form of parks, trackless wilderness, public rights of way and public spaces. The sunlight that falls to earth is common to all, plants and animals on land, fish and the whales in the sea.<\/p>\n

Before the human development of agriculture and domestication humans lived for millions of years in hunter-gatherer bands of approximately thirty to a hundred \u00a0people. If the band survived and prospered, eventually, as population grew over generations, a new band would split off. As this process continued, a larger and larger area of land would need to be occupied.<\/p>\n

Eventually groups that originally were connected, would become separated permanently by mountains or water barriers. Originally we had everything in common. Then because of our success in outgrowing our original environment we ceased to have a common place and identity.<\/p>\n

This is probably the basis for the evolution of different languages (see \u201cTower of Babel\u201d) \u00a0If we go back far enough in time, all of us living today have a common history, but over thousands of years different peoples occupying different places have come to conflict and cooperation with each other.<\/p>\n

Each of us has our humanity and human origins in common with everyone else alive today. Since then, we may have got here in different ways, but we all share the present time in common. We, in fact, share this age in common with the Earth\u2019s biosphere and all its manifest diversity.<\/p>\n

Republished here under Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-55","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1735,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/55\/revisions\/1735"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/55\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}