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    How Do Our Interactions With The Material World Shape Our Knowledge?

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    zayd lokhandwala
    Our interactions with the physical world shape our knowledge and language in several ways: 1) Experiments have shown that people intuitively associate certain sounds with shapes, like "kiki" with sharp shapes and "bouba" with round shapes, showing how material perceptions influence language. 2) The physical sensations we associate with objects, like cracking with sharp edges, influence the implications of words in our brain. 3) Even when given made-up words from unfamiliar cultures, people can correctly categorize them like birds and fish based on sound alone, showing the strong link between material world and language. 4) Our interactions with the physical environment have influenced our survival and development as organisms.

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    How Do Our Interactions With The Material World Shape Our Knowledge?

    Uploaded by

    zayd lokhandwala
    337 views2 pages
    Our interactions with the physical world shape our knowledge and language in several ways: 1) Experiments have shown that people intuitively associate certain sounds with shapes, like "kiki" with sharp shapes and "bouba" with round shapes, showing how material perceptions influence language. 2) The physical sensations we associate with objects, like cracking with sharp edges, influence the implications of words in our brain. 3) Even when given made-up words from unfamiliar cultures, people can correctly categorize them like birds and fish based on sound alone, showing the strong link between material world and language. 4) Our interactions with the physical environment have influenced our survival and development as organisms.

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    Tok_essays

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    Our interactions with the physical world shape our knowledge and language in several ways: 1) Experiments have shown that people intuitively associate certain sounds with shapes, like "kiki" with sharp shapes and "bouba" with round shapes, showing how material perceptions influence language. 2) The physical sensations we associate with objects, like cracking with sharp edges, influence the implications of words in our brain. 3) Even when given made-up words from unfamiliar cultures, people can correctly categorize them like birds and fish based on sound alone, showing the strong link between material world and language. 4) Our interactions with the physical environment have influenced our survival and development as organisms.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    337 views2 pages

    How Do Our Interactions With The Material World Shape Our Knowledge?

    Uploaded by

    zayd lokhandwala
    Our interactions with the physical world shape our knowledge and language in several ways: 1) Experiments have shown that people intuitively associate certain sounds with shapes, like "kiki" with sharp shapes and "bouba" with round shapes, showing how material perceptions influence language. 2) The physical sensations we associate with objects, like cracking with sharp edges, influence the implications of words in our brain. 3) Even when given made-up words from unfamiliar cultures, people can correctly categorize them like birds and fish based on sound alone, showing the strong link between material world and language. 4) Our interactions with the physical environment have influenced our survival and development as organisms.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    1. How do our interactions with the material world shape our knowledge?

    The interaction between observers and observed are quite literally some of the most
    important interactions that take place. The storage, and the collection of the information
    present in the physical, material, tangible world is really what influences every aspect of
    our brain’s storage and processing of data.

    Material world analysis plays an


    interesting role in linguistics. An
    intersectional example of this would
    be the phenomenon of Kiki Bouba.
    Linguists asked participants to
    categorize these 2 shapes into the
    words kiki and bouba----

    Do this in your head, pls…

    The findings, from this experiment were much better than chance, with most people
    across regional borders and cultural differences still being able to link these 2 words. The
    most agreed upon hypothesis for why this happens is because the material world plays a
    heavy role in our perception of the sound of any shape: Ki, Ta, - unvoiced plosives, sharp
    shapes, and Bu, no- voiced plosives, and nasals are associated with rounder shapes. The
    experiments try to prove that there is a link between a word and it’s implications in our
    brain: ki, and sounds like it usually occur when something breaks (a cracking table), and
    rounder sounds are much more likely to bounce of pebble like objects than geometric
    defined ones. The implications for this were taken further by giving english speakers
    words from Huambusia, and they sorted words for bird and fish correctly with no
    knowledge of the culture, just the words with a 58% accuracy- that is 8% more than on
    chance. The physical world, our knowledge of how it feels bends and shifts even the
    language we use to communicate all knowledge.

    Our interaction with the physical world shapes almost every interaction- the shapes we
    see, the graphics used develop languages and shorthands, but we are still bound to our
    physical world. The needs, and the interactions with the planet and the objects around us
    influence every of our development into surviving organisms, who can procreate and give
    birth to new surviving organisms.
    2. Is the truth what the majority of people accept?

    No, I believe that Truth is a pure white substance at the center of the universe and our job
    is to look at that white thing and filter it with our own lenses, maybe even sometimes
    touch the white. The truth is unchanging, our perception of it, however, is constantly
    devolving, evolving, morphing, and just getting completely thrown out-- it’s a process.

    My rejection of this statement is firstly due to the fact that I never think we will uncover
    true truth. We don’t know why matter exists in the universe, forget understanding the
    random pattern based behaviour of people… we are as a culture really arrogant, and quick
    to assume that we ‘understand’ when we actually don’t understand much of anything.
    And since cultures are protective of their structures we push dissent, usually, logically to
    the side. Truth-seeking cultures should encourage dissent, and new ideas because that is
    the only way that we get closer to that white shining light at the centre of the universe.

    Even cultural truths and traditions wouldn’t be classified as truths. Because there is
    nothing concrete about them, they are subject to change by the people who follow them:
    that is almost the definition of a belief.

    The third and the most important rejection criterion of this question is that people are
    dumb, and I don’t hold any exception for myself. We are easily convinced and there are
    thousands of really good liars who have the one thing that makes a person believe you:
    charisma, and good logical flow. Debating as a concept is flawed in it’s execution because
    it’s dependant not on the best point but the best argument of that point. An charismatic
    liar could probably convince me and you that Oompa Loompa’s are real.

    An extension of this point is that if we take truth to be majority voted- democratized. We


    result in alienating minorities from the discussion of truth. Ridiculous, now, statements
    seem completely normalized when you take them into a different context. Gold in Mayan
    culture was abundant in their mines and so they used it as they would any shining metal,
    by throwing into waterbodies to ‘honor their ruler.’ The only value, and the shock factor, of
    this story is visible to us now because we know for a fact that 10g of Gold today will sell for
    49,760. And if we truly think about it: what is the value of gold but just a perpetuated
    belief spread to the masses.

    Infact if this is truly what you believe then you lock yourself into a logical circle. If truth is
    what majority believes, and the majority requires proof to believe anything, and the
    offered proof is that the majority believes in it then where do you even start challenging
    opinions.

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