^Why its important to talk to babies: an early experiment
putting babies into the "Pit of Despair" as its called resulted
in their deaths. It is quite revealing.
In the 13th Century, Salimbene wrote about experiments run by
Emperor Frederick II, who was a curious but cruel ruler: ' Like
Psammetichus in Herodotus, he made linguistic experiments on the
vile bodies of hapless infants, "bidding foster-mothers and
nurses to suckle and bathe and wash the chidren, but in no wise
to prattle or speak with them; for he would have learnt whether
they would speak the Hebrew language (which had been the first),
or Greek, or Latin, or Arabic, or perchance the tongue of their
parents of whom they had been born. But he laboured in vain, for
the children could not live without clappings of the hands, and
gestures, and gladness of countenance, and blandishments. " '
This is important for us too. Facebook, and online talking and
listening is just as valid as talking and listening to people
"in real life". Now banned experiments like the one above that
unfortunately get carried out on purpose or accidentally even
today, show that while the body is important, communication is
the difference between life and death.
