East Eagle, morning light, Center of the Wallowa Range, Oregon . . .
On the road in the American Northwest.

Mirrors Made of Sound . . .

In any language, it is possible—at least in theory—to make a
more or less complete map of all the words in its lexicon. Of
course, new words could always be added, old ones deleted,
and the map itself might even be a part of the description.

Perhaps one could say that, if words were like stars in the night sky,
there is indeed a very large but still finite number of them. At the
same time, if it is true that the meaning of words is like a web or
constellation of mirrors, each word pointing to or reflecting in part
the significance of others—very brightly for those close by and more
dimly for those which are far away—then we could say that in some
very subtle sense each word contains every other word. These
implications might be thought of as mutual reflecting resonances,
or mirrors made not of glass but of sound.

Most importantly, in contrast to the lexicon of a language which
because it is finite or limited is therefore in principle knowable,
the universe of meaning given articulate form by the words in this
way is not. In the future, this difference between words, on the one
hand, and their implied meanings, on the other, will be seen as the
primary limiting factor of machine or mechanical intellect.

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