The Ling Space
We have an updated version of this interview with Daniel Dennett, now with remastered audio: https://youtu.be/30eOI6pL-lU
We’re really excited to have gotten to interview Daniel Dennett recently! Dr. Dennett is a University Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tufts University, as well as the co-director of their Center for Cognitive Studies. He’s also the author of a number of books on evolution, consciousness, memes, language, and more, including Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.
We got to ask him about a lot of great topics, including:
– the role of language in spreading culture
– what linguists and philosophers can learn from each other
– whether the gap between linguists and the general public is closing
– computers and whether they’ll be able to use language in a human-like way
– a question from one of our followers about whether we have a dedicated mental language
And more! Hope you all enjoy it.
Some related videos:
Our previous interview with Steven Pinker: https://youtu.be/piJBmPh5jFU
How do computers understand our speech?: https://youtu.be/FI9IJteS-5Yda
How logical is language?: https://youtu.be/lw4ykgRtv3Q
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Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thelingspace/
And at our website, http://www.thelingspace.com/ !
You can also find our store at the website, http://thelingspace.storenvy.com/
We also have forums to discuss this episode, and linguistics more generally.
Looking forward to next week!
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Fantastic! Huge fan of both dennet and this channel: stunned when I first saw this
14:00 I think Dennett and Chomsky are closer to each other than either thinks. There is certainly a discontinuity between 'non-recursive' and 'recursive' communication systems in the sense that there is nothing in between, but this is a statement about phenotypes rather than genotypes, so Chomsky is right that human language is very different in quality from the communication systems of our nearest relatives if we think in terms of phenotype space, while Dennett is quite possibly also right to argue that the transition to human language was a series of very small steps in genotype space. We simply don't know how large a mutation is required to get from non-recursive to recursive representations.
Hey! This was a wonderful video, but Dennett's voice is kind of quiet. If I were to type up captions for this video, 1) would you put them up? and 2) where should I send them?
oooo I did an assignment on one of daniel dennett's essays, so this kinda cool!
Dennett's statement towards the end of the video about how the expression of mathematical truths relies on a language system reminds me of how, for me, studying a language feels a lot like dealing with complex mathematical processes, particularly calculus problem solving.
Audio mixing on this was kind of weird. Dr. Dennett was panned all the way to the right for some reason, and Moti was all the way to the left? It was very jarring to have the speakers backwards from the video. Also, while I appreciate using panning to give some separation between the speakers, don't pan so hard! You should be able to hear both speakers in both ears. In fact, you can even do some panning using time delays (sometimes called Haas-effect panning), that will maintain the volume of sound in both ears.
Excellent guest and interview as usual. Also, I love the visual setup of your interviews. The artwork, ruffled stack of books, and ornaments create an immensely pleasing visual atmosphere.
How do you manage to arrange these amazing interviews?!! Is it really hard? I have always wanted to meet them but I thought they would be inaccesible!!!
You like Google Translate? I put in this English sentence:
Instinctively, philosophers that write speak.
Here's the German translation:
Instinktiv, die Philosophen schreiben sprechen.
never thought id see dennett and pokemon in the same shot
He is a walking brain 💩
The real Philosopher in the golden ERA!!!! BELIEVE IN G-D. ALLMAYTHY !!!!!
Who cares his DESPICABLE lecture?!!!!