Category: Language

The Cognitive Bias President Trump Understands Better Than You

March 1, 2017

“AMERICANS BORN IN the United States are more murderous than undocumented immigrants. Fighting words, I know. But why? After all, that’s just what the numbers say.

“Still, be honest: you wouldn’t linger over a story with that headline. It’s “dog bites man.” It’s the norm. And norms aren’t news. Instead, you’ll see two dozen reporters flock to a single burning trash can during an Inauguration protest. The aberrant occurrence is the story you’ll read and the picture you’ll see. It’s news because it’s new.

“https://www.wired.com/2017/02/cognitive-bias-president-trump-understands-better/

Getting a scientific message across means taking human nature into account

February 11, 2017

“We humans have collectively accumulated a lot of science knowledge. We’ve developed vaccines that can eradicate some of the most devastating diseases. We’ve engineered bridges and cities and the internet. We’ve created massive metal vehicles that rise tens of thousands of feet and then safely set down on the other side of the globe. And this is just the tip of the iceberg (which, by the way, we’ve discovered is melting). While this shared knowledge is impressive, it’s not distributed evenly. Not even close. There are too many important issues that science has reached a consensus on that the public has not.”

https://theconversation.com/getting-a-scientific-message-across-means-taking-human-nature-into-account-70634

The Untranslatable Emotions You Never Knew You Had

February 11, 2017

“From gigil to wabi-sabi and tarab, there are many foreign emotion words with no English equivalent. Learning to identify and cultivate these experiences could give you a richer and more successful life.”

“In the future, Lomas hopes that other psychologists may begin to explore the causes and consequences of these experiences – to extend our understanding of emotion beyond the English concepts that have dominated research so far.”

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170126-the-untranslatable-emotions-you-never-knew-you-had

A LANGUAGE TO UNITE HUMANKIND: Ludovik Zamenhof created Esperanto in the hope of achieving world peace, but the movement was divided from the start.

December 28, 2016

What does the creation of Esperanto tell us about the power of language? Can a neutral language, if properly implemented, actually achieve the goals Zamenhof set out to achieve?

Below are two articles that dig into the history, goals, and current status esperanto.

“Esperanto was invented in 1887 by a Polish ophthalmologist named L.L. Zamenhof, who hoped his creation would bring about world peace. Zamenhof saw a turbulent world divided by language, and concluded that the situation was too complicated, essentially unfair, and ultimately doomed. He believed that the languages people already spoke were oversaturated with history, politics, and power, making it impossible to communicate clearly. Esperanto was a fresh start, a technology that would allow its speakers to sidestep the difficulties of natural languages altogether.

“He made it as easy to learn as possible, with no irregular verbs, a vocabulary adapted from Romance language roots, and a simple, genderless, almost caseless grammar.”

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/29/8672371/learn-esperanto-language-duolingo-app-origin-history

““If mortality is what it is like to live after Eden, misunderstanding,” she writes, “is what it is like to live after Babel.” This is not just a psychological misfortune but, more pressingly, a political one. Because we don’t speak the same language as our neighbors, we can’t see their point of view, and therefore we are more likely to rob them and kill them.”

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/31/a-language-to-unite-humankind

 

 

Why Democrats and Republicans Literally Speak Different Languages

September 17, 2016

“The Republican National Convention proved yet again that the GOP talks about America and U.S. policy with an entire unique vocabulary. It hasn’t always been this way.”

“For several decades now, Republicans and Democrats have become more polarized. There are plenty of reasons for that, including the demise of the Southern Dixiecrats and the geographic sorting of the country into ideologically homogenous neighborhoods. But the two major parties are now divided by a common language: Democrats discuss “comprehensive health reform,” “estate taxes,” “undocumented workers,” and “tax breaks for the wealthy,” while Republicans insist on a “Washington takeover of health care,” “death taxes,” “illegal aliens,” and “tax reform.” When did the two major political parties create their own vocabularies?”

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/why-democrats-and-republicans-literally-speak-different-languages/492539/?mc_cid=374abf3cdb&mc_eid=34e2887073 

Omar Mateen Had a “Modern Sporting Rifle” The firearms industry doesn’t call the gun he used in Orlando an assault weapon. It prefers a less threatening name.

August 3, 2016

“Modern sporting rifle is a euphemism that the gun industry created in 2009 to describe modular semi-automatic rifles. The phrase is an artful attempt to recast weapons such as the MCX and the AR-15 (and its variants) as all-American toys. Never mind “quiet and deadly” and “close-quarters battle”: Modern sporting rifle conjures up images of aristocrats riding with their hounds, vacationers knocking clays out of the sky, and ruddy-faced athletes enjoying their autumns in Carhartt jackets and mud-spattered ATVs. The term is a genius act of marketing, meant to bring these deadly weapons into the mainstream and keep them there. It’s also disingenuous hokum that exists to cloud debate, like calling a used car “pre-owned.””

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2016/06/the_sig_sauer_mcx_used_in_orlando_is_a_modern_sporting_rifle_not_an_assault.html?mc_cid=1e136768f2&mc_eid=34e2887073

The limits of intellectual reason in our understanding of the natural world

July 30, 2016

“This overreliance on science and reason makes it difficult to communicate with the general public. It also blinds us to the full scope of the issues we now face, which can be fully grasped only through the emotional, cultural, ethical and spiritual perspectives on the world.”

“Finally, scientific reason seeks to explain all phenomena through words and numbers. And yet there are many experiences that defy articulation; classical pianists or professional athletes often have great difficulty verbalizing the essence of their experience when they are perfecting their craft.”

https://theconversation.com/the-limits-of-intellectual-reason-in-our-understanding-of-the-natural-world-60080?mc_cid=1e136768f2&mc_eid=34e2887073