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Episode description

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How Learning a New Language Rewires Your Brain—Lessons from the Pirahã Tribe | Daniel Everett : 1258

The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey

Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep 1258•Transcript available on Metacast

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Episode description

Is the Way You Speak Limiting How You Think?

For years, scientists debated how language shapes the brain, but new research reveals it goes far beyond communication. Some languages lack numbers, grammar, or even complex sentences—yet their speakers navigate reality in ways that defy expectations.

In this mind-bending episode, linguist Daniel Everett, known for challenging Noam Chomsky’s theories, shares how his time with the Pirahã people reshaped our understanding of language, cognition, and even consciousness.

If language rewires thought, what happens when AI starts using it? Can a machine truly think? And what if whales, with their massive brains, have a language of their own?

What You’ll Discover in This Episode:

• The hidden power of language—why learning a new one literally reshapes your brain

• The Piraha people’s mind-blowing approach to communication and what it reveals about human thought

• Can AI truly “think” in language, or is it just an advanced mimic?

• How your environment affects memory, navigation, and cognitive function

• The psychedelic connection to language evolution—could altered states have unlocked speech?