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The Concept of Language (Noam Chomsky)
" a national language is a somewhat new concept that realtes to the rise of nationalism"
when languages die
i watched this after i had finished the linguists documentary and am glad i did, i think Dr. Harrison could be the Graeber of linguistics to me now. so many beautiful points he made, stressing why we should care about the death of languages, that they are the greatest human made monuments that we did not physically build. he also inroduced me to a compelling concept; the ideao of collective intellectual property by a very few people who know a dying language, that records of them are their IP, traditions and thought birthed due to this dying language should be their IP and thats how linguistics studies should deal with it even if international laws dont view it that way which i thought was fascinating. and makes so much sense too. also raised some sad observations, about talking to the last speaking person of a certain dying language, or how this recording he had obtained could be the first, or only, or last recording of this language. the last thing i appreciated was his appreciation for non-western schools of thoughts, as in addressing that just because something has not been disocvered or observed in western scientsist, does not mean it has never been discovered, especially when it comes to plants and animals, since most of these indigenous and rural communities have entracted with these plants and animals, he gave a good example that i cant recall now, but its basically about there is a word for a certain type of animal ina certain language but not in any western language,because that group had needed that word to survive and to address tha animal. or how because these communities are so in line with nature that more often than not, they are more knowledgeable than western scientists since there research strategy is just living these things not just studying the from afar. it is purely colonialist thought, and reminds me of a quote that goes along he lines of how western knowledge is universal, while indigenous thought is local
David Graeber: On Bureaucratic Technologies & the Future as Dream
'if you want to make sure innovative breakthroughs never happen, you say to the innovators, okay none of you guys get any resources at all unless you spend most of your time competing with one another to convince me that you already know what youre gonna discover.' Another great Graeber talk. Such interesting themes, most of all the collective disappointment of the older generation, which in the sixties, had this grand idea of technological breakthroughs that would have happened by the 2010's which is when Graeber gave this talk, 13 years ago. he talks about how they were embaressed at first at their naive expectations but then goes into how it actually was not naive, and that there is a reason why we havent had a true breakthrough, that the reality is, for 20 years since the populization of the internet i assume, nothing truly substantial has been made or discovered, and that largely has to do with, obviously, capitalism, and the 20th century political climate and competition. Its interesting because as someone from a different generation, you never really had those expectations,you were born during the internet and just saw it as a fact of life and didnt expect anything more. He argues that, in the end, all thats happened within technological advancements is more bureaucracy. I am curios as to what he would have though about the takeover of AI currently in such a short amount of time, but at the same time, I dont think its made much of a difference, as in the actual uses of it have not been groundbreaking, its stil bureaucratic when someone uses AI to write their CV and the company uses it to scan that CV. It reminds me of a quote i read that says 'i want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that i can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that i can do my laundry and dishes'. its not related completely but did make me think about what we want to automate and what we dont and whereto draw the line and attempt to de-bureaucratise (not a word, i think)
beauty obsession in the age of technology
i think it was well done and a good analysis of the media she mentionted but overall did not add anything new to me really. i guess maybe i was not the target audience since i have never been so obsessed with looks, although relate to the idea of general self-optimization. it fell a little flat in talking about gen ai, almost making it just another video saying social media makes u obsessed with perfection is all.
on bullshit jobs- david greber
" most jobs are not about making stuff, theyre about mainting stuff' was an insane line. i love david grebers philosophy and works when it comes to bureaucracy. was a really good one
How Sugar Enslaved the World
extremely educational in a short span of time and made me want to research the history of sugar further
The WWE's complex 'black' history
Engaging structure, informative. I hate WWE but like men in panties.
media commentary
The Downfall of Culty “Eat the Rich” A24-Core Movies
she makes a valid point abt these not being as fun anymore due to how realistic they seem now rather than just satire
Be your own algorithm
Critique of Filterworld book - great analysis on medium-as-message and curation. Made me want to read mcluhan.
other
How A $6B Noodle Brand From Indonesia Became Nigeria’s National Dish | The Blueprint
i want indomie :(
The Mitfords: Communism Vs Fascism In The English Aristocracy | Tale Of Two Sisters | Timeline
very interesting after reading in the pursuit of love and finding out how much was fiction and how much was not- also from what pov it came. i guess it seemed like it was nancy dissatisfied with each of her sisters choices and suggesting that diana, unity and jessica, all paid terrible prices because they had followed a man. i was confused as to why the video didnt at all metnion pamela miltford, i suppose she lived a much quieter life, and was a lesbian, which is maybe why she wasnt involved with nazis. it does make me want to read jessicas recounting of their story through hons and rebels. also appearently a mini series about them just came out, i might watch that.