10 000 colours to paint the world

Communication has never been easy. The laws of nature ensure that every creature lives its life alone; science fiction and romance novels aside, we've never managed to share our sentiments directly. The only information we transmit naturally and effortlessly is our DNA sequence (and try using that in a high school essay!). Yet somehow our ancestors found a way to bridge the canyon of soulless molecules that divides us, with a hundred subtle ways to make manifest the invisible thoughts and feelings that dwell among our neurons. We developed muscle patterns that convey our moods; written and spoken language to preserve and propagate ethereal concepts; and all the arts of humanity to edify our five senses. As much as I prize scientific and literary scholarship, I know that its depth and richness pales next to the ancient arts of interpersonal communication.

Of all our subtle skills, language is our highest achievement. A well-chosen phrase can be more sublime than a Chopin, more moving than a Monet, more powerful than a Panzer. We have millions of words at our disposal, each one imbued with unique life by minutes or millenia of use. Over many generations, useful and meaningful words are remembered and useless words are forgotten, so as long as we remember our language, we have all the wisdom of our ancestors at our command. It is also democratic in the truest sense--it exists and evolves in the minds and mouths of everyday people, and it defies the tightest centralized control. Speak true, loud, and clear, and the future will hear you.

For all that, language is more than just a means for storing and transmitting information. Each sentence is a tiny piece of music, and each conversation, a rich symphony of syllables. We choose our words, consciously or unconsciously, to be the most pleasing to the ear. Each dialect and language has its own rhythmic and melodic structure, but they are all beautiful in their own way. Language is meaning and melody combined--the ultimate art form.

At least, if you have someone to talk to...