Presented on Tuesday 17 December 2019 at Behind Eyes Wide Shut, a symposium. Organisers: University of the Arts, London Archives and Special Collections Centre andthe Centre for Film, Television, and Screen Studies at Bangor University in Wales Abstract Stanley’s last message to the viewer, the grand finale of his cinematic statement, is the word fuck. […]
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What is Linguistic Anthropology?
Before discussing Linguistic Anthropology, let’s see what Anthropology itself is. Anthropology is the study of humans in society, how they have behaved, what are their lifestyle, cultures, and their origins. The past and the present of human experiences in history are studied in Anthropology. Linguistic Anthropology is a branch of Anthropology that talks about the […]
Money is a Token of Cooperation
The biology of indirect exchanges:
Cooperation requires the situated ability to choose partners.
Morality confuses altruism with cooperation.
I propose a game theoretical definition of these concepts.
I provide evidence from anthropology, history and cryptocurrency.
Prescription
A biological definition of language:
– Only human signallers make receivers respond
– Language is not about cognition but about behaviour
– Intentionality confuses mental and behavioural end-directedness
– Language shares a behavioural basis with money and institutions
Really, what is money?
Apparently, it is illegal to destroy a bank note. I didn’t know that when I and a friend ripped two 50€ notes and threw them into the sea. I was just testing that I could do it, because otherwise — I thought to myself — there is a chance that I am psychologically enslaved to money, and I really […]
Why Science Needs to Understand Language
In the study of human behaviour, there are many neurologists, geneticists, cognitive psychologists, psycholinguists and other researchers with an analytic approach. These professionals view our actions as determined by our component parts, such as cells and molecules. They believe that this internal mechanism can sometimes malfunction, so they often have a medical inclination.