[lbo-talk] Woj on language

[Arash]

The analogy seems ill-formed, what basis is there for assuming that the
active acquisition of skills you're taking about are at all similar in
nature to language acquisition?  It is very debatable if language really
involves any active learning or is rather like a system that
self-organizes after exposure to certain input, a bit like the way in
which our visual system develops.  The latter perspective is what Chomsky
is getting at when he talks about language "growing."

[WS:] Yes, but by the time they are to acquire job
skills most people have been socialized to diffrent
social roles, some of them requiring to be stupid.
The point I was making is that ceteris paribus, every
person is capable of achieving a comparable level of
competence that most other people have, as evidenced
by the mastery of language.  What happens, however, is
that "ceteris paribus" seldom obtains in the real
world.  Some people are actively encouraged and
coached to learn new skills and abilites, others are
discouraged and punished for it.  So by the time
people reach adulthood, this social conditioning
amount to substantial diffrences in abilities,
especially that "unused" brain cells are "trimmed out"
during adolescence.

Wojtek