{"id":11303,"date":"2026-11-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303"},"modified":"2026-09-05T18:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T18:35:35","slug":"looking-at-alva-noes-book-2023-entanglement-part-16-of-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Alva Noe&#8217;s Book (2023) &#8220;Entanglement&#8221;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>0201 Why did we (humans), at some point in our civilizational development, come to apply <em>ideograms<\/em> as <em>symbols<\/em> for <em>the sounds of speech?<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp; Why did civilized people start to follow <em>the rebus principle?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For westerners, the result is called, &#8220;the alphabet&#8221;, which only tells us the first two letters of the Greek syllabary.&nbsp; Greek writing is invented a little after 800 B.C. (or 6,000 U0&#8242;, Ubaid Zero Prime, nominally marking the start of the first singularity).&nbsp; Not much later, Homer writes <em>the Iliad<\/em> and <em>the Odyssey<\/em> based on the oral traditions of Greek bards.&nbsp; As it turns out, the stories tell of events during the Bronze Age, long after the Iron Age was in full gear.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0202 Today, our speech is conditioned by writing.&nbsp; We are convinced that our writing records our spoken words.&nbsp; Unfortunately, spoken words cannot be spell checked.&nbsp; Fortunately, written words can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png 540w, https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>0203 The alphabet strangely re-enacts language, defined as two arbitrarily related systems of differences (by Ferdinand de Saussure (1859-1913), whose lifespan overlaps that of Gottlob Frege and Charles S. Peirce).&nbsp; The alphabet (like <em>parole<\/em>) and the spoken word (now, like <em>langue<\/em>) are each <em>systems of differences<\/em>.&nbsp; That is to say, they are <em>finite symbolic orders<\/em>.&nbsp; There are rules (symbolic operations) that motivate the relation.&nbsp; <em>The rebus principle<\/em> turns <em>each letter of the alphabet<\/em> into <em>an index of a word-sound<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0204 After centuries, <em>the old index<\/em> has become a little sloppy.&nbsp; The letter &#8220;c&#8221; sounds like a &#8220;k&#8221; (as in &#8220;cryptocurrency&#8221;) or an &#8220;s&#8221; (as in &#8220;civility&#8221;) and then appears in lots of odd combinations (as in &#8220;chicken&#8221; and &#8220;discipline&#8221;).&nbsp; But, I am not complaining.&nbsp; All that I am saying is that <em>the use of an alphabet<sub>2af<\/sub><\/em> entangles <em>a consensus on spelling<sub>2bm<\/sub>,<\/em> as an organizing principle<sub>2bm<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0205 <em>The content-level confounding<\/em> resolves into <em>a situation-level dyad,<\/em> where <em>the spelling consensus<sub>2bm<\/sub><\/em> substantiates <em>written words<sub>2bf<\/sub><\/em> as virtually (in virtue, rather than in simulation) situating <em>spoken words<sub>2af<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not an easy requirement, explaining why grammar schools have changed their collective name to &#8220;elementary schools&#8221;.&nbsp; Spelling is to writing as grammar is to speaking.&nbsp; But, the amount of effort that it takes to technically validate both grammar and spelling is just too much for unionized labor to do as <em>a work requirement,<\/em> especially when <em>negotiating with compromised politicians<\/em> is so much easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0206 There are many &#8220;entanglements&#8221;, broadly painted, between speech and writing, and the author briefly considers the writerly attitude (S5C5), before arriving at a surprising conclusion.&nbsp; <em>Art<\/em> is <em>a condition for language<\/em> (S6C5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0207 This examiner wishes to unveil an alternative, by looking back at <em>the interscope for speech-alone talk<\/em> and making <em>a comparison to the prior figure<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is <em>the interscope for speech-alone talk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide46-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide46-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide46-1.png 540w, https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide46-1-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>0208&nbsp; If <em>what I think<sub>2am<\/sub><\/em> corresponds to <em>spoken words (that I send or receive)<sub>2am<\/sub><\/em> and if <em>what I say<sub>2af<\/sub><\/em> compares to <em>the alphabetic rendering of the spoken word that I think<sub>2af<\/sub>,<\/em> then <em>a consensus on spelling<sub>2bm<\/sub><\/em> dovetails into <em>an organizing principle<sub>2bm<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0209 <em>A consensus on spelling<sub>2bm<\/sub> as matter<\/em> substantiates <em>the form of written words<sub>2bf<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>An organizing principle<sub>2bm<\/sub><\/em> as matter substantiates <em>the form of an artifact<sub>2bf<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0210 If these two situation-level actualities<sub>2a<\/sub> correspond, then it seems to me that, technically, a written word<sub>2bf<\/sub> could be regarded as an artifact<sub>2bf<\/sub> that serves as a reference to <em>the spoken word that I put into script<sub>2af<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0211 What a predicament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The written word<sub>2bf<\/sub><\/em> may serve as <em>an artifact<sub>2bf<\/sub><\/em> that validates its <em>content-level spoken form<sub>2af<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>0201 Why did we (humans), at some point in our civilizational development, come to apply ideograms as symbols for the sounds of speech?&nbsp;&nbsp; Why did civilized people start to follow the rebus principle? For westerners, the result is called, &#8220;the alphabet&#8221;, which only tells us the first two letters of the Greek syllabary.&nbsp; Greek writing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Looking at Alva Noe&#039;s Book (2023) &quot;Entanglement&quot;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Alva Noe&#039;s Book (2023) &quot;Entanglement&quot;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24) - An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"0201 Why did we (humans), at some point in our civilizational development, come to apply ideograms as symbols for the sounds of speech?&nbsp;&nbsp; Why did civilized people start to follow the rebus principle? For westerners, the result is called, &#8220;the alphabet&#8221;, which only tells us the first two letters of the Greek syllabary.&nbsp; Greek writing [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-11T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04\"},\"headline\":\"Looking at Alva Noe&#8217;s Book (2023) &#8220;Entanglement&#8221;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-11T08:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303\"},\"wordCount\":609,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Slide45-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Book Review\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303\",\"name\":\"Looking at Alva Noe's Book (2023) \\\"Entanglement\\\"\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24) - An Archaeology of the Fall\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Slide45-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-11T08:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Slide45-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Slide45-1.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=11303#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Looking at Alva Noe&#8217;s Book (2023) &#8220;Entanglement&#8221;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"An Archaeology of the Fall\",\"description\":\"A Horror Story by Razie Mah\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.raziemah.com\\\/blog\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Looking at Alva Noe's Book (2023) \"Entanglement\"\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24) - An Archaeology of the Fall","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Looking at Alva Noe's Book (2023) \"Entanglement\"\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24) - An Archaeology of the Fall","og_description":"0201 Why did we (humans), at some point in our civilizational development, come to apply ideograms as symbols for the sounds of speech?&nbsp;&nbsp; Why did civilized people start to follow the rebus principle? For westerners, the result is called, &#8220;the alphabet&#8221;, which only tells us the first two letters of the Greek syllabary.&nbsp; Greek writing [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303","og_site_name":"An Archaeology of the Fall","article_published_time":"2026-11-11T08:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":540,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04"},"headline":"Looking at Alva Noe&#8217;s Book (2023) &#8220;Entanglement&#8221;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24)","datePublished":"2026-11-11T08:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303"},"wordCount":609,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png","articleSection":["Book Review"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303","url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303","name":"Looking at Alva Noe's Book (2023) \"Entanglement\"\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24) - An Archaeology of the Fall","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png","datePublished":"2026-11-11T08:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Slide45-1.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=11303#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Looking at Alva Noe&#8217;s Book (2023) &#8220;Entanglement&#8221;\u00a0 (Part 16 of 24)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/","name":"An Archaeology of the Fall","description":"A Horror Story by Razie Mah","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11306,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303\/revisions\/11306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}