We are in the Scientific Era, it is said.
But are we "scientific" in all possible areas, or are we "scientific" in only some areas?
This author proposes that our words, for instance, can be divided into three areas: Object-Words, Money-Words, and People-Words.
Furthermore, we seem quite advanced, quite "scientific", where our Object- and Money-Words are concerned, but way, way behind, where our People-Words are concerned.
Perhaps this is because of the philosophical questions tied to free will and determinism.
This author contends that our People-Words are almost always oriented to free will, whereas the words tied to either Objects or Money are oriented to determinism.
These free will People-words then play havoc in our lives, with respect to anger, shame, and blaming of others, the author proposes.
And so, this book, although short, seeks to fill a big gap that perhaps no other philosophers seem to have adequately addressed:
"If we are "scientific"-minded, and see even people, as Determined, why then, hasn't Mankind made far more progress in the area of personal strife?"
Perhaps the answer has to do with having a BIG-Picture view of determinism as active, but when it comes to the "rubber meeting the road", our WORDS, we are not IMPLEMENTING this philosophical concept?
Because our words are still free will oriented, when it comes to people?
The author further attempts to address WHY our People words are still so utterly oriented toward free will, even today.
He maintains, that this is a critical concept to address: that yes, Mankind is suffering from "poverties", including financial poverties, health poverties, security poverties, and more; but what about WORD-poverties?
Indeed, might our seeking of Power, be a seeking for power based on what the author would call "EXTERNAL"
powers, rather than INTERNAL powers? And that a PRIME FACTOR in INTERNAL power, is the POWER of having HIGHLY USEFUL WORDS, words that have been RE-TOOLED to be DETERMINISTIC - in the area it is needed - PEOPLE? Words that are like Kryptonite, because they have no "slant" toward free will?
The author has a rather unique set of experiences to bring to this topic, including having grown up, his first four years of life, having heard almost no words spoken, compared to most people: his immigrant grandmother basically raised him without speaking to him, during his waking hours of these first four years, due to her knowing no English, and his parents not wanting her to speak her native tongue of German. Their first substantial conversation in English had happened when he was thirty, when she had, by then, learned English.
Additionally, his father taught English at the college level, for many years. He also has extensively studied Electrical Engineering and Mathematics, at West Point, and Berea College, respectively, and then used these skills to deeply analyze language. Finally, he utilized software, called SuperMemo, to accumulate 160,000 electronic flashcard notes, over a fifteen-year period.
