God here. First, I do not exist. The concept of a 13,700,000,000 year old being, capable of creating the entire Universe and its billions of galaxies, monitoring simultaneously the thoughts and actions of the 7 billion human beings on this planet is ludicrous. Grow a brain. Second, if I did, I would have left you…
Tag: culture
Languages: the strange case of Pirahã and Aymara
In my last post, I wrote about the connections between language and thought, ie. linguistic relativity / determinism. In today’s highly globalized world, languages get mixed and evolve at a much faster pace than ever before. English, for instance, is no longer only divided into British, American, Canadian and Australian English; we could say that there…
Language: defining identity
In my previous post about language, I said that the ability to conceive and communicate complex thoughts is what sets humans apart from animals. I want to make it clear that I do not mean in any way that animals are stupid, on the contrary. However, seeing as they rely on instinct much more than…
Language: the foundation of culture
Language is the fundamental trait that sets apart homo sapiens from other animals. The physical ability to generate complex sounds has given us the ability to go beyond instinct. Culture could not exist without language, and not only because we wouldn’t be able to share it with one another. Animals, lacking full languages, are only…