[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Communication]] - People: [[Lera Boroditsky]] - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKK7wGAYP6k --- ## Summary - Language is the context that shapes how we think. [[Culture is the context that shapes the way we express ourselves]]. - How we think defines the boundaries for what we believe we can do and can't do - the possible and the impossible. - [[If your language and your culture trains you to do it, actually, you can do it]]. - [[Languages are, of course, living things. Thing that we can hone and change to suit our needs.]] - Your language, your foundation of thinking, is **not the way**, **just a way**. [[Be water | Free your mind]]. [[Using no way as a way, having no limitation as limitation|Use no way as way]]. Be kind to yourself and others. - **Ask yourself**: - "Why do I think the way I do?" - "How could I think differently?" - "What thoughts do I wish to create?" ## Notes ### Transmitting ideas - Language is the powerful human ability to "transmit ideas across vast reaches of space and time." - [[We're able to transmit knowledge across minds]]. - Language can communicate ideas that range from the very useful to creatively absurd. This can inspire new ideas to form. ### Understanding ideas and ourselves - [[To have a second language is to have a second soul]]. - The native Kuuk Thaayore people of Australia use North, South, East, and West exclusively for directions. It is also deeply embedded in their culture. Directions are a standard response in their "hello" greeting. ### Context shapes content - [[If your language and your culture trains you to do it, actually, you can do it]]. - [[Culture is the context that shapes the way we express ourselves]] - either with it or against it. - Language influences how we think about time. For some, "time is locked on landscape". - Some languages don't ave the "linguistic trick" of counting, so it is more difficult to work with quantities (numbers). - [[Language shapes what we can and cannot do]]. - [[Language guides our reasoning about events]]. - Language is the context that **cultivates compounding ideas**, shaping ingenuity. ### (Re)orientation - The brain reacts when there is a **perceived categorial change in content**. For example, a blue changing from light to dark. Almost like a surprise. This reaction causes reorientation or re-framing in some form. The disorientating effects, however minimal, may be minimized further through established knowledge, practice, and exposure (environment). ### Prescription of ideas - Language may prescribe gender to words; masculine and feminine. These genders may also differ between languages and affect how we think about and describe things - using words like "beautiful" (feminine) and "strong" (masculine). - **Language may prescribe blame**, even if the situation is blameless (accident). The consequence of this may unnecessary cause someone to blame themselves and think negatively towards themselves. This negativity is exacerbated if others feel the same way. - Blame may lead to a change in behaviour - one to exercise more caution. However, [[Caution should not constrain creativity or expression]]. - For accidents, how blame is projected will influence whether you're like yo remember who did it, or that it was an accident. Projection influences the **remembering of intention**. ### Change - [[Languages are, of course, living things. Thing that we can hone and change to suit our needs.]] - "What we know about the human mind is actually incredibly narrow and biased, and **our science has to do better**." - **Ask yourself**: - "Why do I think the way I do?" - "How could I think differently?" - "What thoughts do I wish to create?" ## Original ![[How language shapes the way we think-1.jpg]] ![[How language shapes the way we think-2.jpg]] ![[How language shapes the way we think-3.jpg]]