From Lognet issue 00/1,

Sau La Prakao (From the Continue-Maker)

Sad News

On the 13th February, 2000, in a hospital in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, Dr. James Cooke Brown passed away.

A sad loss for those of us who knew and loved him, never again to be inspired by his infectious enthusiasm. A sad loss for all Loglanists—Jim was the final authority on every aspect of the language he had created. He did make mistakes in his Loglan use: there are no perfect Loglan speakers. But his mistakes were of the “Oh silly me” variety. He was always prising new features out of the language, or rather discovering its hidden treasures, finding new ways of using the language which had been there all the time, but which nobody had become aware of.

Jim loved the sea: he had sailed his own boat across the Atlantic. And he loved to travel: each of the past several years he and his wife Evy would go off on a great voyage of discovery—around the USA, to China, around Europe. This year’s jaunt was a cruise round South America. Jim took delight in his years as an old man, the best part of life, he would say.

Our hearts go out to Evy, and to Jenny, Jim’s daughter whom he raised as a single parent, and to all his family and friends. All of us who have become involved with Loglan can feel only the most profound gratitude for the gift of this unique and elegant language. And this gratitude brings with it a responsibility: not just for us of the Board of The Loglan Institute, and of the Keugru, but for all Loglanists, to nurture and support the language that Jim has left us.

There will inevitably be changes: the article in this issue on the future of Loglan was drafted before Jim’s death. In it I was concerned, as I now more than ever am. to find a wav of reinforcing the whole logical language movement, without in any way diluting the independence and integrity of Loglan—we are on the most optimistic view a tiny band of enthusiasts. I intend that any future developments will remain true to the spirit of Jim’s vision. That is why this column is headed Sau la Prakao, From the Continuer (continue-maker). The little drawing of Jim on his mountain top is going to stay, of course.

This is the first Lognet of the new millenium. A time for taking stock, a waypoint from which to set a new course.

There are people now alive, born in the last century, the late nineteen hundreds, who will still be alive in the early twentyone hundreds. There will probably be quite a lot of them, given the advances in medicine that we may reasonably anticipate. I wonder how many of those centenarians will be logli.

Loglan will continue, this is certain. In what form it continues, time and people’s effort will tell. A fair number of the letters recently received in tribute to Jim Brown talk of a possible rapprochement between Loglan and Lojban: a re-joining of the languages is even envisaged by some. I hope we can look forward to a period of cooperation and mutual support between the two organizations. Both languages sprang from the genius and vision of Jim Brown. Logical languages are such a new phenomenon that their eventual role in the world is impossible to predict; what is certain is that that role will be determined by the ideas and activity of their users.

That there are two separate but parallel paths towards the best implementation of a logical language is an opportunity to let our human diversity blossom. Our finest tribute to Jim will be the strengthening and furthering of the logical language movement as a whole.

—Alex Leith