In 1952, Noah S. “Soggy” Sweat, Jr., a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, was asked about his position on whiskey. Here’s how he answered:

If you mean whiskey, the devil’s brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that topples Christian men and women from the pinnacles of righteous and gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, shame, despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am opposed to it with every fiber of my being.

However, if by whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the elixir of life, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an elderly gentleman on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink that enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life’s great tragedies and heartbreaks and sorrow; if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars each year, that provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of it.

我们的祖先完成第一次跳跃是开发出概念操纵 (Concept Manipulation) 的能力。这里的概念指的是下意识的直觉的概念，比如说下意识的帮后面的人带上门。

第二个阶段的是操纵符号的能力 (Symbol Manipulation)，这个阶段里我们的祖先开始用脑海中想想出来的语言和数字来表述概念，注意这里的符号指的是脑海中的符号和概念。比如用数字记住一个部落有多少只羊，而不用记住每只羊的样子。

第三个阶段是外部符号的手工操纵能力 (manual external symbol manipulation)，我们的祖先得以用符号图形来了表述不同的概念。比如一个棍子和沙子、铅笔和纸、直尺和圆规等等。这使得我们克服了生物上的记忆限制，大大的提高了我们可视化的能力。

而现在，感谢能够自动运行程序的计算机，人们可以迈入第四个阶段：外部符号的自动操作能力 (automated external symbol manipulation)，在这一阶段，人们在操作有意义的符号时，可以在眼前看到符号的移动、储存、回调和运算。