Remember a while back, I posted about the Power of Words.
This post was a little long (I mean, very long) and you probably didn't read it, but here's a great video illustrating everything I hoped you would learn from my "Power of Words" post.
The words we use to describe color actually change the way we see color!
And as a little bonus, here's the RadioLab episode on this very topic:
Abstract things like time, thought, and understanding don't exist unless we have words for thinking about them...
Showing posts with label RadioLab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RadioLab. Show all posts
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Random Thought of the Day
Flamingos in Siberia?
Yup. Flamingos have been turning up in Siberia for the past few years. Every November. The dead of winter.
Well, not flamingos. Actually, just one at a time.
What? If that's not the strangest thing I've ever heard...
Well, it's not that strange actually. Robert Krulwich, NPR's science expert, and his go-to-super-sleuth, Ezra Block explain:
But where did they come from? There are Asian flamingos. The nearest live and nest in Kazakhstan, so perhaps those birds came from there. And November is the month when Asian flamingos normally fly south from their nests in Kazakhstan to Iran.
And thus, we end up with one very cold and very lost migratory mutant.
So far, the flamingos that find themselves in the snow in Siberia have been adopted by local zoos. So don't worry too much about flamingos with frostbite.
To listen to the whole story, click here!
 |
| Illustration by Maggie Starbard/NPR |
Yup. Flamingos have been turning up in Siberia for the past few years. Every November. The dead of winter.
Well, not flamingos. Actually, just one at a time.
What? If that's not the strangest thing I've ever heard...
Well, it's not that strange actually. Robert Krulwich, NPR's science expert, and his go-to-super-sleuth, Ezra Block explain:
Checking the library, we discovered that 100 years ago scientists also reported multiple sightings of flamingos, again deep in Siberia, and again it was November.
 | ||
| Flamingo sightings in Kazakhstan and Siberian Russia |
So here's the idea.
Suppose a bird is wired to fly one direction every fall and for some reason the wiring screws up so the animal goes 180 degrees the wrong way, exactly the opposite direction. This happens to a few birds in migrant populations every year.
And thus, we end up with one very cold and very lost migratory mutant.
So far, the flamingos that find themselves in the snow in Siberia have been adopted by local zoos. So don't worry too much about flamingos with frostbite.
To listen to the whole story, click here!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Random Thought of the Day
If I had more time today, I would be listening to...
I wonder what's playing over at RadioLab?
I wonder what's playing over at RadioLab?
Monday, September 20, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
On a Curiosity Blender
Today's post is courtesy of my new favorite podcast, RadioLab
If you've never heard of RadioLab before, thank goodness you are reading this blog!!! This podcast/radio show will undoubtedly change your LIFE! Ok, maybe not that extreme, but it will definitely blow your mind.
This week at RadioLab, they've rebroadcast an amazing show about Time. Time is difficult to grasp when you really think about it, and RadioLab does a VERY good job of thinking about it. It is sure to be a mind-blower. I guarantee it!!!
However, if you don't have an hour to spare to listen to the whole show, I have another suggestion.
This video was a follow-up to the show in which RadioLab investigated Words. What are words and what would our world be like without them? Without words, would there be no communication? no speech? no thought? Is it possible to think without words? Did you notice that each clip represents a word and the is linked to the following clip?
Anywho, hope you enjoy the video! You can find the full broadcast of Words here! This episode was definitely the most mind-blowing episode I have ever heard. And I've heard them all. They talk about this dude who lived for 27 years without LANGUAGE! I mean, he's deaf, doesn't know that he's deaf, and doesn't know that every single thing in the entire world has a name -- a word. And then someone explains it all to him for the first time...WHOA!!!! CRAZY! I am NOT exaggerating.
Absorb it! It will enlighten your life.
If you've never heard of RadioLab before, thank goodness you are reading this blog!!! This podcast/radio show will undoubtedly change your LIFE! Ok, maybe not that extreme, but it will definitely blow your mind.
This week at RadioLab, they've rebroadcast an amazing show about Time. Time is difficult to grasp when you really think about it, and RadioLab does a VERY good job of thinking about it. It is sure to be a mind-blower. I guarantee it!!!
However, if you don't have an hour to spare to listen to the whole show, I have another suggestion.
This video was a follow-up to the show in which RadioLab investigated Words. What are words and what would our world be like without them? Without words, would there be no communication? no speech? no thought? Is it possible to think without words? Did you notice that each clip represents a word and the is linked to the following clip?
Anywho, hope you enjoy the video! You can find the full broadcast of Words here! This episode was definitely the most mind-blowing episode I have ever heard. And I've heard them all. They talk about this dude who lived for 27 years without LANGUAGE! I mean, he's deaf, doesn't know that he's deaf, and doesn't know that every single thing in the entire world has a name -- a word. And then someone explains it all to him for the first time...WHOA!!!! CRAZY! I am NOT exaggerating.
Absorb it! It will enlighten your life.
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