Mind Your Language - Thought, Metaphor and Imagination

Explore the foundations of language in this thought-provoking World Science Festival panel discussion featuring renowned experts Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker, Evelina Fedorenko, and Daniel Dor, moderated by Brian Greene. Delve into the mysteries surrounding language, including its origins, purpose, and impact on human existence. Examine theories about the evolution of language capacity in the human brain, its role in facilitating group cooperation, and its function as a communication tool versus a substrate for inner thought. Discover how language ignites imagination and shapes our understanding of the world. Investigate topics such as the inner voice, human creativity, artificial intelligence, and the potential existence of linguistic species in the universe. Gain insights into the intrinsic structure of language, its history, and its limitations in expressing human thought.

Intro
Interview with Noam Chomsky
Alfred Russel Wallace
The strongest evidence
Oneoff chance event
The Fermi Paradox
Language as an instrument of thought
The inner voice
The capacity for thought
The limit of our language
Human creativity
Language as tool of thought
Can artificial systems think
Inner world
Optimism
Introductions
Language as a tool of thought
Intrinsic structure of language
Language as a tool of communication
Brief history of language
Linguistic species in the universe