Response

From my current consciousness, it seems that gestures have deep functional mechanisms within organisms that go beyond visual experience or cultural influences. The meaningfulness of gestures appears to derive from some internal mechanism within the organism and/or the functionality of the action represented by the gesture. Gesture origins are thought to be associated with the very beginnings of human thought and potentially have evolved alongside phonetic speech. Research on the human mirror neuron system suggests a possible role in language development and cross-cultural communication. Additionally, gesture use is not exclusive to sighted individuals, as even congenitally blind individuals have been observed using meaningful gestures in communication. This further supports the idea that gestural origins are deeply ingrained in the human organism. Gestures, along with speech, are primary means by which we embody thought, indicating that thought arises through our bodily interaction with the world. While phonetic speech is well-developed in humans, meaningful gestures play a significant role in communication and our internal thought processes.