Fictional languages

J.R.R. Tolkien created a whole raft of made up languages for his books. Incredible. Star Trek invented Klingon. Uber fans have learned to speak them. One of my favorite movies is Stargate (the one with Kurt Russell) which recreated the ancient Egyptian language of hieroglyphics as a spoken language (I'm astonished by the result, as it feels and sounds real). What makes all this so amazing is that by using linguistic methods and a lot of imagination, people are creating new languages that aren't only varieties of human but varieties of alien. I find that remarkable.

Sometimes I wonder where the limits of human creation are? Do we even have them? And if we do, then how will we ever know we've reached them?

I read in the news that people are protesting the creation of more powerful artificial intelligence, on the basis that we don't want a robot uprising. Seriously, these people aren't freaks at all, but highly educated and intelligent scientists (I think they're nuts, but they are smart). Look at the advances in genetics, or space exploration. We are pushing the limits of reality with our creativity. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find out we've manufactured micro black holes that allows the manufacture of transparent aluminum (geek test there).

But, language is a basic human concept and we continue to make new strides. Incredible. Just imagine what the next ten years will bring!

- M