“Words” is an episode of an educational podcast series. It features two hosts both of whom help guide the listener through a conversation about the importance of language and how it is related to mental ability. The two host “Robert and Jedd” speak with guests who have experience with or are studied in areas related to this episode theme. The host’s job is to organize and at times short the information provided by the guest. Jedd and Robert accomplish this by dividing each point into segments or sub-segments. This is all done in an effort to answer the question “how important is language.”

The podcast is similar to an advertisement in that it has actual plugs from companies that help finance the show. It also lists the speaker’s qualifications and/or accomplishments to give their words more authority, however just because the speaker is educated does not automatically mean they are correct. This is a common fallacy used in advertisements.

Segment 1:
I believe the experiments or “facts” do a good job in trying to get the listener to understand the importance of language in regards to overall cognition. Alfanso’s story is interesting,  it grabs the listener’s attention. The blue wall experiment shows how context and the ability to combine pieces of information allow you to relate things to other things and how that helps a person gain an understanding of the system as a whole. The Shakspere piece although engaging doesn’t offer much.

Segment 2:
Most of Jill Bolte’s story is…a nice story. However, we do gain some insight as to how important language might be when she discusses her struggles to understand sentences and her process of searching for pictures in her mind to make meaning of things that words explain in seconds.

Segment 3:
The Nicaraguan student’s case was used effectively. It is the first time we can see a language being created. The test given to the younger and older Nicaraguan students seem to show how a deeper connection to language and ability to understand and attach symbols to ideas and concepts (especially about thinking) enhances a persons ability to understand the world and problem solve.

Music and sound effects help enhance the listening experience. When describing a child’s brain as a series of “islands” each representative of an idea simple music plays that relax the listener so they can better understand what this might mean. When Jill Bolte discuss what it was like for her to have a stroke, it switches back and forth from her speaking to a ringing tone. The tone helps the listener understand the difference between life with a language and the emptiness and mental clarity that comes without it.

ADVERTISEMENT
If my advertisement were a radio/podcast ad, I would advertise it on VICE. Radio. It would begin with…

George Bush Jr.
There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.
Narrator
Truly poetic, this master of the English language would someday rise to become the president of the United States of America.
Cornell West
Nihilism is a natural consequence of a culture (or civilization) ruled and regulated by categories that mask manipulation, mastery, and domination of peoples and nature.
Narrator
We thought this guy was homeless until he opened his mouth.
Narrator’
Wealthy students graduate with an average of 30,000 more words. Not everyone who talks like a president ends up in the White House.

I believe this ad (after being developed more) shines a light on the importance of literacy, especially those who come from humble beginnings.

I did learn that it’s possible we might not have the ability to relate different pieces of information to one another until age six and that Shakspere treated words like sections of code and sentences like algorithms which lead the creation of many phrases used today.

I thought this show was interesting. The most enjoyable parts for me where the discussion about “the silence” that we trade for language. As someone who’s brain is continuously going this silence sounds kind of nice. It would be nice to relieve my mind for an hour a day and just experience the present. But that’s the sacrifice you make to not live in huts made of sticks and dung I guess.