Language

### Cold Open

Jason Silva: "The human brain is a remarkable language machine, and it has to be. We use language to talk, read, write and connect every day. And with over 7,000 languages worldwide, we'll never run out of things to say. There's great power in language. Language allows me to take a thought from my brain and implant it into yours, using nothing but words. But have you ever stopped to wonder, what is language, really? Why do words mean what they mean? And as language evolves, what will it sound like in ten, 50, or 100 years?"

## Games

### Game #1: Instant Change

Hear a distorted clip. Then listen to the actual message. Then listen to the distored clip again.

Result: You hear the actual message in the distortion after hearing what it was, despite nothing changing.

Why: Your special part of the brain called the "Wernicke's Area" is so powerful that it can turn clear language and understand distorted language to some degree.

### Game #2: It Feels Like That Word

Match two words to what you think fits to an image.

Result: Most people say the same thing for these, despite the words being made-up.

Why: When describing the objects and things, the words match up with their images as the people have evidence. The reason why we link certain words to images is called sound symbolism. How an object looks, smells, or even tastes can determine some sound of the word. Sharp-sounding language often gets paired with pointy images, and vice versa, etc.

### Game #3: Making Noise

Are these babies being annoying, or communicating.

Result: They certainly are communicating, but what's it called?

How: Using body language, or Prosody, the rhythm of language, and because the babies are twins, they develop a code with each other. Reading body language can tell you a lot about somebody.

### Game #4: The Boss Means Business?

Who's the boss? And who's just stressed? But you only get to see body language.

Result: The woman who seems to hide her thumbs is nervous due to the fact that she's shaking or she may be fearful. She's the nervous nelly. The man in the red tie seems to be touching his neck to sooth him, which relives stress. But in this case, he's the ball of stress. Despite the space one of the men takes up, wanting to be the alpha male, he wants to be the boss, but that doesn't mean he is, and aggression doesn't equal leadership. He's simply the aggressive one. The man with the yellow tie put his hands in a steeple gesture, a classic move among world leaders and famous people, but it's the woman who power posed with her hands up that proved that... you guessed it, she's the BOSS! The man in yellow tie is second in command.

So: This game shows how you are sending signals with your body almost all the time. So be sure to think about your body language and make sure it doesn't hold you back. Convey power with your body language.

### Game #5: Eyes for a Bill

Listen to the song, and identify the words that were in it.

Result: Most people think the three words are bill, pail and mayo in succession. However, the only word that appeared was the first one.

Why: Your vision is really important to understanding language and your brain links images to sound. however, since they conflicted since the only word was really bill, the one you trusted was the vision because your brain seems to care about it more.

### Game #6: The Origins of Language(Time Travel Telephone)

Get ready to play along and figure out the phrase the volunteers try to communicate to you and their teammates. They must communicate using only gestures, only drawing, and describing the word without using the word.

Result: Each part of the game presents a unique challenge, and even though it was a pretty tough game, the guesses were pretty close to the answers and this game traces how language developed.

So: From primitive to sophisticated, language is the purest form of data transmission and the next thing we have to telepathy.

### Game #7: Say It Fast!

Say the word Silk 5 times fast, and then spell it out. What does a cow drink?

Result: You probably said milk, but they drink water.

Why: When asked to come up with a beverage, the pattern of silk got you to say milk and why you got it wrong. Language can sometimes be utterly complicated.