> it’s a remarkable artifact of modernity that we say these things about computers, but not about the dictionary or our regimented education system.
When I was at university I had some humanities professors who were studying this kind of stuff. It was a lot of postmodern analysis, looking back probably critical theory. One professor pointed out that dictionaries were a very 19th century thing, the standardization of language. There is a fascinating "hidden" history in Europe of many languages being eradicated or wiped out by the central government insisting on one or a few national dialects. Reading it felt very similar to the schools that were run for indigenous people in the United States and Australia not so long ago.
In any case, my point is that some folks out there are doing research into this but it's not the kind of stuff that really gets in the headlines.
to anyone interested, i would recommend Benedict Anderson's book "Imagined Communities" which analyzes this subject and other related history involving the printing press and the development of the nation-state
When I was at university I had some humanities professors who were studying this kind of stuff. It was a lot of postmodern analysis, looking back probably critical theory. One professor pointed out that dictionaries were a very 19th century thing, the standardization of language. There is a fascinating "hidden" history in Europe of many languages being eradicated or wiped out by the central government insisting on one or a few national dialects. Reading it felt very similar to the schools that were run for indigenous people in the United States and Australia not so long ago.
In any case, my point is that some folks out there are doing research into this but it's not the kind of stuff that really gets in the headlines.