Edward Gibson

And so the basic idea is I think language is invented, right? That's what I get from the words here is that I think language is invented. We talked about color earlier. It's the same idea so that what you need to talk about with someone else is what you're going to invent words for, okay? And so we invent labels for colors that I need, not that I...

that I can see, but that, but the things I need to tell you about so that I can get objects from you or get you to give me the right objects. And I just don't need a word for teal or, or a word for aquamarine in, in the, in the Amazon jungle for the most part, because I don't have two things which differ on those colors. I just don't have that.

that I can see, but that, but the things I need to tell you about so that I can get objects from you or get you to give me the right objects. And I just don't need a word for teal or, or a word for aquamarine in, in the, in the Amazon jungle for the most part, because I don't have two things which differ on those colors. I just don't have that.

that I can see, but that, but the things I need to tell you about so that I can get objects from you or get you to give me the right objects. And I just don't need a word for teal or, or a word for aquamarine in, in the, in the Amazon jungle for the most part, because I don't have two things which differ on those colors. I just don't have that.

And so, and so numbers are really another fascinating source of information here where you might, you know, Naively, I certainly thought that all humans would have words for exact counting. And the piraha don't. So they don't have any words for even one. There's not a word for one in their language. And so there's certainly not a word for two, three, or four.

And so, and so numbers are really another fascinating source of information here where you might, you know, Naively, I certainly thought that all humans would have words for exact counting. And the piraha don't. So they don't have any words for even one. There's not a word for one in their language. And so there's certainly not a word for two, three, or four.

And so, and so numbers are really another fascinating source of information here where you might, you know, Naively, I certainly thought that all humans would have words for exact counting. And the piraha don't. So they don't have any words for even one. There's not a word for one in their language. And so there's certainly not a word for two, three, or four.

So that kind of blows people's minds off.

So that kind of blows people's minds off.

So that kind of blows people's minds off.

That's pretty weird.

That's pretty weird.

That's pretty weird.

You just don't. And so that's just not a thing you can possibly ask in the Puraha. It's not possible. There's no words for that. So here's how we found this out, okay? So it was thought to be a one, two, many language. There are three words, four quantifiers for sets. And people had thought that those meant one, two, and many. but what they really mean is few, some, and many. Many is correct.

You just don't. And so that's just not a thing you can possibly ask in the Puraha. It's not possible. There's no words for that. So here's how we found this out, okay? So it was thought to be a one, two, many language. There are three words, four quantifiers for sets. And people had thought that those meant one, two, and many. but what they really mean is few, some, and many. Many is correct.

You just don't. And so that's just not a thing you can possibly ask in the Puraha. It's not possible. There's no words for that. So here's how we found this out, okay? So it was thought to be a one, two, many language. There are three words, four quantifiers for sets. And people had thought that those meant one, two, and many. but what they really mean is few, some, and many. Many is correct.

It's few, some, and many. And so the way we figured this out, and this is kind of cool, is that we gave people, we had a set of objects, okay? These were having to be spools of thread. It doesn't really matter what they are. Identical objects. And when I sort of start off here, I just give you one of those and say, what's that? Okay, so you're a piano speaker and you tell me what it is.

It's few, some, and many. And so the way we figured this out, and this is kind of cool, is that we gave people, we had a set of objects, okay? These were having to be spools of thread. It doesn't really matter what they are. Identical objects. And when I sort of start off here, I just give you one of those and say, what's that? Okay, so you're a piano speaker and you tell me what it is.

It's few, some, and many. And so the way we figured this out, and this is kind of cool, is that we gave people, we had a set of objects, okay? These were having to be spools of thread. It doesn't really matter what they are. Identical objects. And when I sort of start off here, I just give you one of those and say, what's that? Okay, so you're a piano speaker and you tell me what it is.

And then I give you two and say, what's that? And nothing's changing in the set except for the number, okay? And then I just ask you to label these things. We just do this for a bunch of different people. And frankly, I did this task.