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You Don’t Need Words To Think

Gary Stix Scientific American
Brain studies show that language is not essential for the cognitive processes that underlie thought

AIs Encode Language Like Brains Do

Zaid Zada The Conversation
The similarity between neural networks and human brains opens a window on human conversations. When two people converse, their brain activity becomes coupled, transferring thoughts from the speaker to the listener.

Friday Nite Videos | July 19, 2024

Portside
The GOP Wants Us To Forget. Delta's Illegal Union-Busting Habit. The Project 2025 Song. We Need to Rethink Exercise – The Workout Paradox. How Cults Use Language to Control | Otherwords.

AI Learning Through a Baby’s Eyes

Elizabeth Gibney Nature
A neural network that taught itself to recognize objects using the filmed experiences of a single infant could offer new insights into how humans learn.

Giving Shakespeare the Tough Love He Deserves

John Douglas Thompson New York Times
In “The Great White Bard,” Farah Karim-Cooper maintains that close attention to race, and racism, will only deepen engagement with the playwright’s canon.

Zulu vs Xhosa: How Colonialism Used Language To Divide South Africa’s Two Biggest Ethnic Groups

Jochen S. Arndt The Conversation
South Africa has 12 official languages. The two most dominant are isiZulu and isiXhosa. While the Zulu and Xhosa people share a rich common history, they have also found themselves engaged in ethnic conflict and division, notably during urban wars between 1990 and 1994. A new book, Divided by the Word, examines this history – and how colonisers and African interpreters created the two distinct languages, entrenched by apartheid education.
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