Was this posted to the list, or e-mailed to me, or both? Sorry, I
haven't been able to check the CHOMSKY list lately, so I'm e-mailing
this back, as I recieved your reply in my personal e-mail.
Damn. It was sent to you, and should have been posted to the list.
Well, I'll cross-post it anyway so everybody else can join in the fun.
About the Meyers-Briggs test...hahaha -- I still don't know what to
think about that damned thing. In a sense, I don't like tests that try
to pigeonhole people or typecast them, or, as a psychiatrist might
euphemize, "note general tendencies in personality structures" or
whatever.
I can't get that upset about them. After all, the test itself is pretty
harmless: you tell it that you like being around people, it returns
"you are comfortable in social situations" and you magically feel
like somebody understands you. It doesn't get dangerous until
people start compiling databases and drawing erroneous conclusions,
and as I have no power to stop people from making stupid decisions,
I can't do anything about that before the fact either. I certainly won't
oppose anyone's gathering information or making observations,
even in the way of tests that generalize, although I will oppose what
someone does with that information if their implementation is harmful.
Funny you would suggest ENTP, though, because that is what I
ranked when I took it 3 years ago. Geez, guess that means it's an
accurate test. I might also fit the "FBI Profile for a Terrorist" ...who
knows? It's all arbitrary, and it's serving the interests of someone I
have yet to meet. :L
It's rare enough that I meet someone who's as fascinated with
connecting disparate things to each other as I am; when I run across
one, I know he/she probably scored ENTP, that's all.
I'm a Comparative Literature major now. Comp. Lit will make me a
millionaire.
Hey, if you write a great deal of original and relevant stuff, inspired by
your studies in Comp. Lit, then... no, then you will probably be admired,
but still poor... maybe if you do commercials, too... never mind.
Of course, there is evidence that languages, like myths, had common
origins that were due to things other than archetypes or "pre-conscious
templates". Ancient civilizations were not as isolated as modern people
believe them to be. The reason that Hebrew and Arabic are so similar is
because they share the common parent of Aramaic, for example, which was
spoken at a time when there was open exchange between Mediterranean and
Asian-Indian peoples. There was the primordial Spice Route that
traversed the Middle East and connected China to Europe, in which
stories as well as exotic goods were inter-traded. I think it may be
possible to argue that along an inter-connected route such as this,
ideas were traded and influences exchanged.
I think the true test is not to be found in history, but in verifiable examples
of new pidgins and creoles, especially the ones created in a relative
cultural vacuum, like the grammar developed by deaf children whose parents
cannot correctly teach them.
Still, I think there's more evidence to support an inherent similarity
in psychic framework within which people form their perceptions. I could
log example after example, but soon I'd have an essay. If you want them,
though, I'll be more than happy to provide them.
Our knowledge probably overlaps a lot, but I'd love to fill in the gaps in mine
with any examples I've never heard of. Please, write the essay, and e-mail
it if it's too long to post!
Btw, I think it's sad that trumped-up Postmodernists like Dr. Jacques
Lacan have been given credit for reviving Freud's ideas within a modern
context, when it's obvious, as Chomsky also agrees, that most of the
Lacan school are just verbiose and ostentatious dilletantes rather than
actual psychologists.
I think it's sad whenever ignorance gets the limelight in place of diligent
research. Somebody on this list (if only I could search all the messages)
said something wonderful about how any political plan which is to succeed
must take into account ignorance, apathy, etc... still working on that one.
_The_Chomsky_Reader_ is a good start--excerpts from all his major
works. If you're into websites, I HEAVILY recommend
http://www.worldmedia.com which houses "The Chomsky Archive."
Wow. Wow. Thanks...
Sarah C.I.
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