Well, it is 'a sentence is a formatted thought' from a different angle.

it's a definition, not an analogy.

language is just our best tool for sharing feelings, concepts, etc. funny to think it's (probably) ultimately not the best tool for that. :)

Not that I disagree with your point, but I don't think spoken/written language is our best tool for sharing feelings. I'd say body-language is better for that. Or certain forms of art (such as visual art or music). All forms of communication, obviously.

Language probably is our best way of communicating abstract concepts, however (now, are feelings abstract or concrete? ;-).

if your definition of "feelings" stops at "happy" and "sad", sure. but feelings quickly become too complicated to express without language.

example: i want to go out to dinner tonight, but i feel like we went out to dinner too many times this week.

example: i am happy that the Yankees won, but i am unhappy with Derek Jeter's performance.

communicating these feelings clearly will, without better technology, require words.

more importantly, interpreting body language is simply prone to error. assuming two honest parties, it is much harder to misinterpret words.

That's not quite how I meant to use the word feeling above; I'd characterise what you describe as sentiment. I suppose I might have used the term emotion rather than feeling.

you're right, feelings seems like a mischaracterization on my part. in that case i agree body language is can be a better tool for communicating feeling than verbal language.

not to take this off the deep end, but i'll try to clarify my point.

language (body or verbal) is just our current best attempt at getting your brain to feel what my brain feels (feelings, sentiments, concepts, anything). my hunch they are both terribly insufficient compared to some technology we may be able to develop in the future.

that is, why serialize the data at all? a literal data transfer seems more reliable. for now, it's because we have no other choice.