An entire field of Cognitive Science based on one false premise: The brain doesn’t work like a computer. It doesn’t process information. Yet the whole field works with this metaphor. But the metaphor is simply the most current one we have for it (especially funny are the previous ones). Curious what the next one will become.
TED Ideas: Jessica Gross - How the languages we speak can affect the way we think
Every culture develops its own language. But how does the language we speak develop the culture? It turns out it does. You might save more if your language doesn’t differentiate between the future and the present. Or you might be good at orienting yourself if your language uses north or east to indicate where something is from you instead of left or right. Or you might be very fast to know your own gender (that was weird) if you grow up with many linguistic gender markers around.