Is there a most precise, thorough, efficient or otherwise “best” language (that should be used for a potential world-government?)

You’re in luck: a language purpose-built for a potential world government has already been invented: Esperanto. (bit.ly/guardian-esperanto) The trouble is, not many people speak it. Another solution might be to examine regions of the world with single governments and a lot of languages. In India, there are 17 official languages; these are languages into which all government documents & forms must be translated. In the EU, where legal & trade agreements proliferate, there are 24 official languages. Hm. Seems inefficient, but then again, it also seems to work. For an interesting article on the efficiency or inefficiency of various languages, see this one from The Atlantic: bit.ly/efficient-language.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.