【TED】是一个会议的名称,它是英文technology,entertainment, design三个单词的首字母缩写。它是社会各界精英交流的盛会,这里有当代最杰出的思想家,这里有当代最优秀的科学家,这里有迸发着最闪耀的思想火花,这里孕育着最光辉的梦想。

Mark Pagel
Using biological evolution as a template, Mark Pagel wonders how languages evolve.



【本节目每天下午2点更新,欢迎订阅。】



【全文听写】

Hints:
evolve
visual theft
coordinate
sphere
exploit
utterly
scenarios
And language is the result. Language evolved to solve the crisis of visual theft. Language is a piece of social technology for enhancing the benefits of cooperation, for reaching agreements, for striking deals and for coordinating our activities. And you can see that, in a developing society that was beginning to acquire language, not having language would be a like a bird without wings. Just as wings open up this sphere of air for birds to exploit, language opened up the sphere of cooperation for humans to exploit. And we take this utterly for granted, because we're a species that is so at home with language, but you have to realize that even the simplest acts of exchange that we engage in are utterly dependent upon language. And to see why, consider two scenarios from early in our evolution.
语言就是产物。语言的进化解决了观察性窃取的危机。语言是社会技术,用于加强合作的益处、达成共识、买卖交易以及协调活动。你可以看到,处于发展中形态的社会刚刚开始习得语言,还没有完全掌握,就像一个没有翅膀的鸟儿。就像翅膀之于鸟儿,扇动空气去探索天空;语言之于人类,开启合作来探索未来。我们以为这是理所当然,因为我们是纯熟掌握语言的物种。但是你应当意识到,甚至我们最简单的交换行为也完全依赖于语言。为了弄清为什么,请假想进化早期的两个场景。