Steven Pinker’s ‘The Stuff of Thought’
This video, which is one of the recent TED Talk videos, is of Steven Pinker’s talk called The Stuff of Thought. This is simply brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, that those who know me well are about to be utterly astounded by what I am going to say:
I now understand the value of indirect communication. And it is immense.
I also understand why I never saw it before: the benefits are reaped solely through language’s social applications, not its analytical ones. See for yourself by watching the video.
An incredible interview with this Harvard professor is available on Google Video.
My name is
Thanks for this reference. Brilliant indeed, as most of TED. As in literature and particularly in poetry, what you refer to as “indirect communication” is, in fact, a form of sophisticated language structures which are used for, and capable of, carrying and delivering much heavier loads of meanings and content, (and therefore “communication”), than it is possible to do with “just” concise and “direct-communication.” For that matter, ALL COMMUNICATION may be rather direct, alas, this is not necessarily the case with UNDERSTANDING. But that is another story.
Nick
30 Dec 07 at 2:40 AM