My reading at Substack has pretty much reduced to one writer, Del Mastro. I was reading him before he moved to Substack, and he’s still worth reading.
Today’s article observes that we tend to view short increments of time or distance as “within tolerance” or “within NOW”. An activity that takes a few more minutes or a bit more work is just part of what we’re doing and doesn’t require a decision. Beyond this “error bar” we have to decide if it’s worth making the trip or starting the action.
This led to a realization that verb tenses are also tied to the current activity or task. Present tense includes a variable interval around the moment when I’m speaking. The length is determined by the task, not the clock. “I’m mowing the lawn” includes a half hour around the moment when I say the sentence. “I’m going to mow the lawn” is beyond the short interval, perhaps an hour from now or a week from now. “I’m doing the second edition of courseware” includes a year around the moment when I say it.
Brain networks have a special connection for the current activity. There’s a known link between the place where an activity happens and the activity itself. “I’m mowing the lawn” would connect the activity of mowing with the yard where I’m doing it. There’s also a tool-task connection. If we hear a consistent sentence like “I’m using the weed-whacker on the back yard” it doesn’t stir up any alarms. An inconsistent sentence like “Use the saucepan on the weeds” stirs up an alarm, which may appear as laughter.
But: My reading for courseware didn’t include anything mentioning verb tense representation in networks. Google doesn’t find anything either. Seems like a subject worth studying!
Polistra's Mill 