iknownothow a year ago

On a slight tangent just to add another speculative datapoint to the language and embodiment discussion.

It's quite possible the right hemisphere of the brain is subservient to the left hemisphere because the language center of the brain resides in the left hemisphere. There's some evidence that the left and right hemispheres are independent actors merely coordinating with each other via the corpus callosum [1]. In such a dynamic, it's likely that the left and right hemispheres start off as equals and play a tug of war of sorts, but eventually the right lets the left lead since the left is better able able to influence the "real physical world" because of language. Language gets you help, food (energy), sex etc. So the language center may not be constrained by embodiment but it might be optimized towards getting the most out of physical reality first?

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain

P.S. the language center is not guaranteed to be in the left hemisphere. Just a high probability as far as I'm aware.

  • superb-owl a year ago

    The idea of the two hemispheres being independent agents is an underappreciated one. It's so hard to step out of the sense of being unitary selves.

    I've written a bit about split brain experiments and their implications here: https://superbowl.substack.com/p/split-brain-psychology

    • psd1 a year ago

      One of my favourite novels is about this - Peace On Earth by Lem

tgv a year ago

Speculation based on a few examples.

  • sublanternistic a year ago

    Well there was a comic, about an old immigrant in germany teaching his children: 'Do not speak any other language than german, to avoid living in two worlds.', maybe that's anectodal -but, i for my part say that goes in the same direction...

    • tgv a year ago

      That might have to do more with staying in a closed subculture. When immigrants group together, they keep speaking their original language, keep the customs, pay very little attention of their new country's culture, and thus lock themselves out. What kind of thoughts you can think has little to do with it. Language is a significant part of identity.

    • euroderf a year ago

      My 2yo is being raised on Finnish and English, which are vastly different languages. I would love to read something, anything, that discusses this kind of situation (and how to make the most of it!) from a linguistic and cognitive perspective.