Information Theory
Information Theory
Podcast Description
An independent podcast featuring high-entropy conversations with scientists, writers, and academics.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Centers around topics in science, linguistics, and philosophy, with episodes discussing the replication crisis in research, theories on language cognition, and personal journeys of academics like Daniel Everett's unique experiences with the Pirahã tribe.
An independent podcast featuring high-entropy conversations with scientists, writers, and academics.
David Moser is a scholar of linguistics at Capital Normal University in Beijing and the author of A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language.
0:00 – Introduction
5:28 – The Challenge of Translating Gödel, Escher, Bach
21:14 – Cultural and Economic Changes in China in the 1980s
31:37 – Why Chinese is So Damn Hard
38:56 – The Core of Language is not the Writing System
44:04 – The Political Fiction of a Unified Chinese Language
54:20 – Can We Just Get Rid of the Chinese Characters?
1:02:27 – “Character Amnesia” and the Future of Language Input
1:07:25 – Comparing the Educational Systems of China vs. America
1:16:07 – How David Learned Mandarin
1:28:32 – Reflections
Disclaimer
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