Panos Athanasopoulos just returned from Greece where he gave a TEDx talk on “Ascending Babel: The gravity of language on our thoughts.” Panos’ talk was part of a truly impressive (sold-out) TED event on “Gravity of Thoughts”. The event took place on Nov 5, 2016, at Noesis – Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum. It featured talks by architects, designers, academics, musicians, etc. as well as artistic performances and workshops. For more information, please visit the event website. Panos’ abstract is below. You can access a (Greek) interview on this page.

Panos Athanasopoulos: Ascending Babel: The gravity of language on our thoughts

Language doesn’t just reflect what we have in our minds, our ideas, but is itself the shaper of ideas. Therefore, we do not all think the same, but rather along the lines laid out by the language(s) we speak. Understanding this key fact allows us to look at different languages as microcosms of different sets of ideas and behaviours. Learning new languages then allows us to become mind readers, it is our doorway to understanding the minds of different people, predict how they might behave in certain contexts, understand the variability in their behaviour, and ultimately reflect back on our own ideas and behaviours, and re-evaluate them in new light.