Language is a proxy of something much bigger, if we’re talking about taking up arms for.

Like I said, I'm not denying the value of expressiveness at all, nor am I suggesting that anyone who values it should ever be denied the ability to express themselves as they please.

I just feel that when people talk about linguistic diversity or having a distinctive "voice," they sometimes overlook the fact that many people simply don't have a strong attachment to those things. A lot of people are primarily concerned with getting their ideas across clearly, and many already struggle with that before they even have the capacity to worry about how expressive or distinctive their language is.

I don't think that makes their use of language somehow poorer or less human. It just means they have different priorities for what they need language to accomplish.

I completely agree with your critique here but I will say that I have had difficulty understanding pure math texts because of 'colorful' language -- e.g. "chattier" treatments of mathematical analysis. But I will also say that I'm glad such treatments of the material exist, partly because I know that what appeals to me doesn't appeal to others and these might be a valued resource for them, and because often pushing through and understanding texts that were difficult at first helps us to see the material from a different perspective. I think this optimization perspective squashes this possibility a bit when taken too far, as it usually is

Think of how much money we could make if we weren't wasting so much time being creative.

There’s no universal answer. Like most things it’s highly subjective and some people will want the standardization line to be in a particular place than someone else. I for instance, love the standardization of programming and science research for the most part into one language but at the same time, I also feel terrible about languages that are hundreds or thousands of years old disappearing forever.

> a perfect language that has no ambiguity, and because of that they have no poetry or jokes.

Lojban, the constructed language, features:

a) logical grammar, inspired by predicate logic which means every sentence in Lojban has an unambiguous structure that a computer can parse

b) no ambiguity in the grammar (structural ambiguity) while you can be as vague or detailed as you like (or as funny!!)

c) emotional expressions via an "attitudinal" system of words that function like emoji

https://mw.lojban.org/index.php

and here are some Lojban literary forms writeup: https://mw.lojban.org/papri/lojban_literary_forms

> I think it was the Uplift series by David Brin that has an idea where the old galactic races all speak a perfect language that has no ambiguity, and because of that they have no poetry or jokes.

Where can I sign up?

Talking to developers about humanities often highlights how smart we're not.