Waking Life
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:12:00
is when we use that same system
of symbols to communicate...

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all the abstract and intangible things
that we're experiencing.

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What is, like, frustration?
Or what is anger or love?

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When I say "love,"
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the sound comes
out of my mouth...

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and it hits
the other person's ear,

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travels through this
Byzantine conduit in their brain,

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you know, through their memories
of love or lack of love,

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and they register what I'm saying
and say yes, they understand.

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But how do I know they understand?
Because words are inert.

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They're just symbols.
They're dead, you know?

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And so much of our experience
is intangible.

:12:46
So much of what we perceive cannot
be expressed. It's unspeakable.

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And yet, you know,
when we communicate with one another,

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and we--
:12:59
we feel that we
have connected,

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and we think that
we're understood,

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I think we have a feeling
of almost spiritual communion.

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And that feeling might be transient,
but I think it's what we live for.

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If we’re looking at the highlights
of human development,

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you have to look at
the evolution of the organism...

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and then at the development of its
interaction with the environment.

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Evolution of the organism will begin
with the evolution of life...

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perceived through
the hominid...

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coming to the evolution
of mankind.

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Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon man.
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Now, interestingly, what you’re looking
at here are three strings:

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biological,
anthropological--

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development of the cities,
cultures--

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and cultural, which is
human expression.

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Now, what you’ve seen here
is the evolution of populations,

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not so much the evolution
of individuals.

:13:57
And in addition, if you look at
the time scales that's involved here--


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