originally published 9/1/2005

Steve Talbott, author of The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst, discusses language, communication, and how technology affects the former two. It influences them negatively, he explains, when it ceases to be “out there” and instead “becomes our own habit of thinking.” Technology utilizes precise language meant to relay information, and it tempts people to use more of the same for all communication. But when people think mechanically and communicate in kind, they neglect the significant meanings conveyed through metaphors and the spaces between words, along with the new understandings figurative expressions can open up to them. In other words, they fail to realize language’s real potential, which can be seen, says Talbott, when words are employed creatively, both indicating a “vast realm of yet unsaid things” and simultaneously teaching people how to say those unsaid things.

18 minutes

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