In tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine, online today, there’s a very in-depth story about Steven Pinker — My Genome, My Self: Steven Pinker Gets to the Bottom of His Own Genetic Code. Pinker, along with nine other volunteers, had his genes sequenced last year as part of the Personal Genome Project. He learned many, many things about himself. But the process left him wondering more than ever: How did my genes help make me what I am?
9 great talks about talkingTED Talks cover an incredible breadth of topics – from mathematical origami to self-repairing architecture to personalized medicine. Some talks explore what lies at the very essence of TED — the act of talking. The 10 talks below explore the various dynamics of speech — from phonology to cognition to the socio-cultural role of language in […]
Reading List: 12 books by recent TED speakersWith summer dwindling to its last few days, it’s time to put away the beach reads and get the mind back in gear with heartier fare. Why not start with some of the amazing books written by recent TED speakers? Here, some picks. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer Retells the tale of a forgetful […]
elman tabaq commented on Jan 11 2009
His ideas about language as an “instinct” are worth reading.
As Mr. Theodore Dalrymple wrote in his Article on The Language Instinct; Pinker stresses that children do not learn language by imitation; rather, they learn it because they are biologically predestined to do so. “Let us do away,” he writes, with what one imagines to be a rhetorical sweep of his hand, “with the folklore that parents teach their children language.” It comes as rather a surprise, then, to read the book’s dedication: “For Harry and Roslyn Pinker, who gave me language.”
——————————
Signature: My personal blog Aeron Chair