Somewhere in the internet a couple of months ago - maybe it was here, might have been in a science video, not quite sure - an Aboriginal language was mentioned in which, instead of ever describing something like “the mountain to the east (or west, or north, etc)”, it is always more like “the mountain to MY east” (meaning to the left of the speaker), even while talking to someone facing in a different direction, yet the listener always understands and makes the internal conversion to HIS own personal, subjective orientation. All the time, even while talking in a group, everybody facing in different directions.
This is quite the mental exercise, a peculiar, finely-tuned subjective orientational awareness, everybody communicating their personal orientation grid with each individual at the center, each making the conversion in their minds in real time while talking.
While all Aboriginal people seem to possess a powerful sense of orientation, can navigate the unforgiving Outback on foot indefinitely knowing where all the water holes are with no map nor compass, this specific group seems to have taken that ability further, are able to physically sense fluctuations in Earth’s magnetic field.
So the current speculation goes that this is a striking example of how powerful language can be as a neuro-plasticity tool, how certain sensibilities can be developed.
Maybe any language carries with it enhanced sensibilities of certain types, while neglecting many potential others. Like there is always a tradeoff, a certain balance must be kept with the resources available to the mind.
Maybe a single language can keep on developing and/or adopting traits that can enhance more and more sensibilities and abilities, the best of all worlds, so to speak. And that is a fascinating thought - some sort of future “superlanguage”.
As language evolves, so does consciousness, and viceversa.
Later back at the lab, after trusting this guy, all the boys with their white robes and clipboards scratching their heads: “The Eigenvalue is off the charts!”
This would have created a strong science hub and community in Texas, a real reason for the state to be proud of itself, looking towards the future like it did in the 1960s, and that was due to the Democrats with LBJ.
Now instead, they got assault rifle-totin’, shit-kicking knuckle-draggers for life, as the whole place builds up inertia sinking into a festering swamp of its’ own ignorance.
The titles on some of her videos manage to be too fishy for my taste, they appear a lot on my feed due to watching a lot of videos from channels like PBS Spacetime and The History Of The Universe, stuff like that.
You can tell that she knows her stuff, but clickbait titles somewhat like, I paraphrase here: “A year ago I lost my faith in science, here’s why”, raise my suspicions and I move on without clicking. Right on the blurry edge between science and something else beyond that line, something that’s not quite legit and not good for you.
This is the conversation I needed to finally block (or “not recommend”, or whatever YouTube calls it) her videos on my feed.
Astrum also sometimes gives me an uneasy feeling, but so far the content appears to be solid, although I don’t watch all his videos.
Hey, let me recommend one of the best channels out there in the vast sea of science/history YouTube content, the name is ParallaxNick.
He’s been doing incredibly well-research videos on the history of astronomy, recently he’s been doing a series that went into detail on Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler and Galileo, I suspect (fingers crossed tight) he’s gonna follow with Newton, then Huygens, Halley and the Herschels.
There would have been t-shirts
EVERYTHING’S BIGGER IN TEXAS
INCLUDING SUPERCOLLIDERS
Would we have never heard the end of republicans bitching and whining about the cost and “our taxpayer dollars” and all that idiocy?
Who knows, considering Texan lawmakers carry an outsized weight in the republican party, and this project meant thousands upon thousands of skilled, high-paying jobs, including creating large new communities populated by scientists from all over the world.
Then after beating CERN to the punch to first detect the Higgs Boson, they would have draped themselves in the flag while chanting USA, USA, USA…
But ignorance and myopia are the horses pulling the republican cart.
On a cultural television channel from Mexico, there was a weekly recurring host panel of five or six academics in different fields, all with their PhDs in literature, linguistics, history, political science, etc. La Dichosa Palabra (The Blessed Word) was the name of the show.
Anyway, one of the panelists always seemed to trace the etymology of every word to the name of such-and-such goddess from antiquity.
One or two times, ok sure, you get dazzled by the erudition. But when it happens over and over and over again with any word no matter how seemingly trivial, it all acquires a strong whiff of confirmation bias bullshit with nobody to call him out on it.
I am real American, live in authentic American warm-water port and how about those New York Yankees Of Baseball Team!
Now that we have established trust with entertainment reference, I tell you that voting for Biden is no good.
Back in the mid-to-late 80s when The Cure came to town, a buddy of mine didn’t have the money left over after buying his ticket to buy any official merch, but he did have enough to buy a bootleg t-shirt in the parking lot, with a tiny The Cure decal cheaply ironed into the breast pocket.
Next day in school, many were sporting their brand new t-shirts with THE CURE HEAD ON THE DOOR NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 1986 or whatever it was.
A stoner guy approached my friend with his tiny “The Cure” t-shirt and the exchange went something like this:
“Hey man… where’d you get the shirt?”
“At the Cure concert.” “Oh for sure, for sure…” as he turned and walked away.
What is something you can’t live without, technology wise that saves you time?
I have to say it’s my virtual assistant I’ve made. It saves me a lot of time with making reminders and such alarms for meetings or interviews, music etc.
Electricity itself is pretty much essential and something I’d have a hard time living without.
Let me agree with you 100% here!
The taming of electromagnetism should be right up there with the taming of fire, agriculture, the alphabet and the printing press, as one of the most significant milestones in human history. And it is still an ongoing process.
I don't need any that in my silly little life at all (sopuli.xyz)
Philosophy (lemmy.world)
Chuck (lemmy.world)
Language (lemmy.world)
The power of AI (lemmy.world)
lemmings.world/comment/8313173
eigenspaces (mander.xyz)
Addiction is a scary thing (lemmy.world)
Too soon? (lemmy.world)
Good news 😊 (lemmy.world)
Bimbo is Italian and masculine, the correct feminine term would be "bimba" (lemmy.world)
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbo...
TIL Many bronze age peoples forgot what stone age tools were, and thought discovered ones as some kind of mystical talismans or signs from a thunder god (www.theguardian.com)
Also mistaken for fulgurite by the more naturalistically minded, apparently. Maybe most common in the Nordics, based on viking references?...
All my real Americans from US State stand up! (lemmy.world)
The Cure to Rule (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
Heathcliff without Heathcliff 5/8/2024 (lemmy.world)
There need to be some freebie days (lemmy.world)
Exclusion: The sound of you having sex played over comms, Riker (lemmy.world)
Inspired by a similar post by Centurian@lemmy.world
Voyager 1 (mander.xyz)
Make Monday a spuddle Monday! (lemmy.world)
There are songs we've gone our whole lives without hearing and the best song we've ever heard might still be out there.