Lera Boroditsky - How Language Shapes Thought October 26, 2010

Lera Boroditsky presents
How Language Shapes Thought

When given a set of images showing the passing of time - for example, a baby maturing into an adult and then becoming an old man - speakers of English will arrange the images from left to right. Speakers of Hebrew will arrange them from right to left. No matter where the experiment is conducted, speakers of certain Australian aboriginal languages arrange the images from East to West, in orientation the daylight path of the sun across the sky.

Do the languages we speak influence the way we think? Is there intrinsic value in human linguistic diversity? Join us as Stanford cognitive linguist Lera Boroditsky re-invigorates this long standing debate with data gathered in experiments with speakers from all over the world.

Seminar hosted by Stewart Brand
http://www.longnow.org/people/board/sb1/

Long Now Members can reserve 2 complimentary seats.
https://www.longnow.org/membership/

There will be a reception at The Long Now Museum & Store following the Seminar.
http://www.longnow.org/contact/

About the Series:
The Seminars About Long-term Thinking were started in 02003 to build a coherent, compelling body of ideas about long-term thinking, to help nudge civilization toward Long Now's goal of making long-term thinking automatic and common instead of difficult and rare.

Official Website: http://longnow.org/seminars/02010/oct/26/how-language-shapes-thought/