The Power of Words

This has been on my mind for the past few weeks now and it has been drastically changing my outlook on everything that I think and do. (If you'd rather not read this entire thing, you can just skip to the end...)

Words are extremely powerful. But not in the way I know you're thinking. Not in the sense that Obama's speeches are powerful or the words of the Bible are powerful. A single word is powerful simply by existing.

Here's an extremely simple example. Does an abstract thing such as an "idea" even exist if we don't have a word for talking/thinking about it?  Think about that for a second.

Now extrapolate this idea to encompass this entire internal conversation you are having with me. What if we didn't have a word for ideas? or thinking? or thinking about what someone else is thinking? We would be completely incapable of having this internal dialogue. Not only would we be unable to physically converse about this (face to face, verbally), but you would be unable to THINK about it. You would not be able to COMPREHEND this idea.

Do you understand? No?

Ok, here's another example:

In the 1970s, Nicaragua created the country's first clinic for the deaf and mute. Before this time, deaf people in Nicaragua had no standard form of communication. After the creation of this clinic, a small group of Nicaraguans INVENTED their own form of sign language. The first version of this language only had two words for thinking about other people's thoughts. Today, new children are learning this form of sign language and have invented new words. This new generation of signers has seven signs for thinking about other people's thoughts.

Researchers gave these two generations of signers a simple test to quantify their ability to think about other people's thoughts. The researchers gave each subject a comic strip showing a boy playing with a train set. The boy's little sister wants to play with the train too but her brother won't share. Then the boy packs up the train set, puts it into the toy chest and leaves the room. Once he is gone, the little sister sneaks into the room, takes the train out of the chest and hides it under the bed. When the boy gets back to the room, the researchers ask the subject (in sign, of course), "Where will the little boy look to find his train set?"

The first generation of signers (with only 2 words for thinking about other people's thoughts) all answered, "He will look under the bed, of course."  The new generation of signers (with 7 words for thinking about other people's thoughts) all answered, "He will look in the toy chest because he thinks that the train is still there."

Clearly, we can understand that the little boy THINKS his train is in the chest. People without words for thinking about other people's thoughts are actually INCAPABLE of thinking about other people's thoughts.

Without a word for it, we cannot comprehend it! Wait a second. If we cannot comprehend it, does it even exist?

Listen to the whole story courtesy of Radiolab!!!


Wait, think about this for a moment: What if we didn't have language...

Would we even be capable of thought?

Scientists have researched this, of course. And no, without language -- without words -- we are incapable of thought.

In the most recent episode of Radiolab, researchers in Nicaragua discovered a perfectly intelligent man who had lived his entire life without any form of language. Imagine living 27 years without language or "thought." No, you can't. Is it really possible for us to think about what it's like not to think? RadioLab discusses it here:



Maybe it IS possible to understand what it's like not to have language. RadioLab interviewed a neurologist who had a stroke that slowly caused her to lose language. She describes her experience and what it felt like to be incapable of thought here:



Ok. If you made it through that whole post and still understand what's going on, you are pretty much amazing. If you would rather not read everything you can just listen to the whole RadioLab broadcast HERE!

It pretty much changed my life. No joke.