Today you’ll learn about the behaviors researchers say can make us more connected with each other, how China is building an AI-powered, 3D Printed dam, and how an over-reliance on the English language is causing problems in the field of cognitive science.
Today you’ll learn about the behaviors researchers say can make us more connected with each other, how China is building an AI-powered, 3D Printed dam, and how an over-reliance on the English language is causing problems in the field of cognitive science.
Health and Connection
3D Dam
Reliance on English
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Find episode transcripts here:https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/health-and-connection-3d-dam-reliance-on-english
NATE: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. Time flies when you’re learnin’ super cool stuff. I’m Nate.
CALLI: And I’m Calli. If you’re dropping in for the first time, welcome to Curiosity, where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind. If you’re a loyal listener, welcome back!
NATE: Today you’ll learn about the behaviors researchers say can make us more connected with each other, how China is building an AI-powered, 3D printed dam, and how an over-reliance on the English language is causing problems in the field of cognitive science.
CALLI: Without further ado, let’s satisfy some curiosity!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: If there’s one thing I learned over the worst days of the pandemic, it’s that staying connected to people really matters to your mental health. Thankfully, that’s not just my observation: it’s one supported by science.
NATE: That makes a lot of sense to me. Not to be dramatic, but some of the middle months of lockdown really felt like the end of the world to me. You said this is supported by science though. I’d be curious to hear more about that science.
CALLI: It’s no secret to any of us now that when loneliness or isolation become too much to bear, it’s not just our brains that suffer, but our bodies. Less exercise and less socialization all contribute to our own personal degradation. But researchers have looked into different ways for us to stay connected in dire times, both in person and virtually.
NATE: Like what?
CALLI: For starters, Nate, heart-to-heart conversations. When one person opens up about something personal, especially if it opens you up vulnerably, and then another person communicates not only understanding, but acceptance… That's called responsiveness.
NATE: Right, so when I tell my friends about what a bad day at work I had, and what a jerk my co-worker was being, and then they tell me they understand, and it’ll be okay?
CALLI: Nate, I’M your only co-worker, so I think we should talk about that later… but yes. Something like that. Heart-to-hearts are key when developing emotional intimacy. But the important factor is, when you share your feelings about what a jerk I’ve been, you truly feel like your friend “gets” what you revealed and accepts your feelings as valid. That establishes trust and closeness.
NATE: For the record, Calli, you, in this scenario, would be the friend that I’m complaining to, so if I was complaining to you about my co-worker, it would be from my, uh, other job.
CALLI: Okay, OTHER job? Nevermind, we’ll get back to this later. Anyway, another method researchers agree on is giving and receiving help. Another way to define that is “instrumental support” and “emotional support.”
NATE: Alright, what are those?
CALLI: Instrumental support is like when I’m too sick to leave the house to get cat food, and you’re like “Oh, I’ll go pick some up for you!” That’s bonding through instrumental support: you helping me simply because I need the help and you don’t mind helping me.
NATE: Huh. And emotional support seems obvious.
CALLI: It’s exactly what it sounds like: nurturing each other’s feelings. So if you came by and hugged me when I’m stressed out about you calling me a jerk at work, that’s emotional support. In either case, your actions are “responsive.” Meaning you get what I’m going through and show you care by acting.
NATE: Okay, but what if you don’t want me to hug you because I called you a jerk?
CALLI: I’m glad you asked. For this kind of support to work, you really need to make sure you’re actually taking the other person’s needs into account, and not just what you assume they are. Sometimes this means action… but sometimes, the best action is inaction. Sometimes “nothing” is the best answer. But only if that’s what I need. And even then, you always need to mix that action with the next method researchers agree on.
NATE: And what method would that be?
CALLI: It’s all about positive vibes. This one’s easy: positivity is contagious. If you’re positive, and your friend is positive, the two of you will connect through that positivity. This one’s interesting to me because I’ve noticed it before; when you’re hanging out with somebody and the vibes are just right, you’ll start gesturing and making faces like your friend. On a scientific level, you even start to develop matching heart rates and hormones!
NATE: That actually makes a lot of sense. There’s that old adage - “laughter is the best medicine.” Guess it’s a cliche for a reason.
CALLI: Yes, exactly. Positivity on all levels literally releases endorphins from each friend. And it ties into the final method researchers think can improve your social connections: affirming expressions.
NATE: Hmmm. I don’t think I understand this one. What do you mean?
CALLI: You know how when somebody lets you know how much they appreciate you, it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Or how when you hold hands with somebody you love, you get butterflies in your stomach? That’s the effect of affirming expressions, which are any verbal or nonverbal expression that lets you know how cherished you feel. Researchers believe that by combining all of these methods, you will establish a stronger social connection. And the best part - now we know these don’t have to happen in person anymore.
NATE: Wow! So they found similar benefits when people connected virtually?
CALLI: Yes! It seems like we can have just as meaningful interactions online as we do in person.
NATE: Interesting. So it’s really just as simple as caring about the other person and knowing they care about you too?
CALLI: Exactly. Even when they think you’ve been a jerk at work!
NATE: It was someone else at my other job!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: When you think of the biggest item ever made by a 3D printer, what do you picture? A sculpture? Maybe even a car? Well, if researchers based out of Beijing are successful, then the limits of what 3D printing can do will be put to the test - with a 594-foot-tall dam.
CALLI: Daaaaaaaaam. That’s what you said, right? A dam? I’m not cursing on the show, we keep it family friendly here. How the heck are they going to 3D print a dam?
NATE: They’re using a combination of methods: all portions of the dam will be divided and created individually, then put together through machinery and artificial intelligence. You wanna know the craziest part? Absolutely no human labor will go into creating this thing.
CALLI: I’m betting since it’s just a plan right now, the dam isn’t thought to be very functional, right?
NATE: You know how these experiments go - they’re thinking BIG here. If the dam is successful, it would produce five BILLION kilowatt-hours of electricity every year. Put it another way: that’s enough energy for 50 million homes in China.
CALLI: K I know I already said it but, dam. Has there ever been a more ambitious 3D printing project?
NATE: Successfully? No. If they pull this off, this will be the largest AI-built 3D printed object on the entire planet.
CALLI: Okay but… I’ve seen 3D printers and I have a couple. They can be pretty big, but big enough for a dam? How big are these things?
NATE: That’s the thing: they’re not using traditional types of printers.
CALLI: But… wait. What?
NATE: Listen to this: they’re planning on using a manufacturing approach that uses a computerized scheduling system that creates the concrete with AI-controlled robots instead of a printer. It determines how much material is required per section of the dam, and the robots assigned to that section then collect the material and unload it where they need to put it. Then, “intelligent paving and rolling” commences. Which is basically what it sounds like, except there are no people controlling it.
CALLI: Great, we’ve gone from giant 3D printers to an army of robots building a dam. Love that for us. What's the point?
NATE: What’s ALWAYS the point? Time, resources, and money. The dam gets built faster, workers don’t need to be paid, and the robots can work around the clock nonstop to construct it. In fact, this dam is set to be operational by 2024… that’s less than two years from the time we’re recording this. Guess how long the biggest man-made dams in the world took.
CALLI: I don’t even have a ballpark… 75 years?
NATE: Oh my god, no way. How long do you think construction actually takes? The Hoover Dam took us 5 years to build, and the Three Gorges dam in China took nine years. Not quite 75 years, but still WAY longer than less than two years.
CALLI: I’ve never built a bridge before, Nate. I’ve only burned them.
NATE: Hilarious as always.
CALLI: But anyway - this is a … great? Idea? Maybe a scary one? And you’re saying it’s actually happening?
NATE: Should be! These researchers have actually had similar ideas in the past. Back in 2021, the team led the development of a 3D printed retractable bridge in Shanghai that was nine meters long and controlled via Bluetooth. They also 3D printed a library and an 86 foot long concrete bridge. Because of this, it’s pretty likely the government will move forward with this dam, but then again…
CALLI: Uh oh. What’s wrong?
NATE: Well. When you combine 3D printing with AI and robots, there could be a few issues. Like, for starters, this kind of AI-powered project could actually kill an entire industry of human laborers who would normally build a bridge like this. Skilled workers, the kind needed for a job like this, account for around 30 percent of China’s total workforce. There’s also the question of safety: namely, how effective will the robots be at measuring the safety of the dam and how likely would it be for them to make an error? Right now, we don’t have those answers.
CALLI: Mmmm, that’s a bit of an issue. But unlike a lot of the other projects we talk about, this one seems like it’s actually happening SOON. How quickly do you think the researchers can address these things?
NATE: For the safety, there’s time and it’s an active concern they’ve taken into consideration. As for the workers… the cold reality is that this is something the government is going to have to weigh out on their own. It’s not up to the researchers whether people like their experiments, right? But it IS up to the government to make sure that steps are taken to still make sure skilled workers can, well, work.
CALLI: You say that now, Nate, but give it a few years and this show will be hosted by two robots talking about whether it’s possible for humans to even host a podcast.
NATE: Honestly? Even if I lose my job, I’D listen to that show.
CALLI: I would too, especially if they were like Daft Punk.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: Here’s something that might blow your mind, Nate. Did you know there are over 7,000 languages being spoken on Earth RIGHT NOW - and English, the language I’m speaking right now, is only spoken by just over a billion people? That means nearly 87% of the Earth’s population has no idea what I’m saying right now. But that got me thinking about the opposite side of the spectrum - how much information do we as English speakers miss out on because we speak English?
NATE: What? English language not English nationality here. That’s an interesting thought experiment, Calli, it really paints how much bigger the world is than we think it is.
CALLI: Absolutely. I’m still mind-boggled about 7,000 languages. A few researchers out of Harvard University had the same thought that I did, particularly around the field of cognitive science. It’s a bit uh heady, so stick with me.
NATE: Great cognitive science pun by the way but keep going.
CALLI: Thank you! So, since so much research is being done in English around the world, it makes sense to assume that we’re missing out on some knowledge because of how language affects our brain’s development. Different languages make our brains work in different ways and the languages don’t always line up perfectly. Someone might read something in Japanese and then read the English translation and interpret both of those statements differently. It’s all to do with how language frames how you see the world. So, the scientists wanted to see if English was limiting our ability to research non-English speakers and what they found was pretty crazy.
NATE: Yeah, I can understand that we might be missing some pretty interesting stuff because we are biased towards our own language.
CALLI: Even in English you can still be misinterpreted! So Nate, if I told you someone was, “Quite pretty,” how would you interpret that?
NATE: It might kinda depend on the context and how you’re emphasizing the words. Generally speaking, I would say that means you think they are maybe above average attractiveness?
CALLI: Yes! And in Britain, it would be the opposite! To say someone’s quite pretty would be to say they are so-so. English is also the most widely spoken language on the planet so it’s the most common one used in science. This makes it so that there’s an overemphasis on how ENGLISH speaking minds work as opposed to other languages. To put that into perspective: they found that almost 40 percent of the world’s languages have no specific cognitive research AT ALL!
NATE: That is pretty crazy considering how many languages there are! But is it that bad? Does language really make that big of a difference on how the mind works?
CALLI: It’s worse than it sounds, because language makes a HUGE difference, Nate. For starters, more than 40% of the world’s languages are tonal, meaning they rely on certain sounds for meaning. And despite the way that sarcasm, for example, can change the INTENTION of words, English isn’t actually a tonal language.
So, if we only focus on English speakers, we’re not painting the full picture of how sensory perceptions are made based on language. That’s also not taking into account the visual aspect of language. Every language has a unique set of script for its written letters, which can affect the way our brains process information. It’s directly linked to learning, problem solving, reasoning, and even some abstract concepts like shape, gender, and numbers. SO, if we’re focused primarily on English speakers’ cognitive abilities, we’re ONLY understanding the English speaking world.
NATE: What about non-verbal languages, like sign language for example?
CALLI: That leads us to even more complicated territory! As you know, different languages have different versions of sign language and there are over 300 different kinds around the world. We have American Sign Language, or ASL and there’s a great example of bias in research based on the amount of attention that ASL speakers get versus other sign languages. Basically, there’s some research that shows people who speak ASL don’t have excellent short term memory generally but that their ability to recognize faces is typically better than those who don’t sign. BUT when this data was compared to people who use a different form of sign language, it had completely different results! So a lot of what we know about the brains of people who use ASL is being used for people whose brains don’t necessarily work the same way.
NATE: Sounds like there’s a lot of data we have to look into to learn more. So what can we do to change this?
CALLI: There are a number of steps we can take. First, there are a number of open databases popping up every day with lists of vocabularies and grammatical structures from across the world. If we used these more often in cognitive science, we could at least understand the basics of other societies. We need to diversify our data, which some scientists are doing. But most importantly, scientists can and should establish ties with non-English-speaking communities to help iron out any biases we may inherently have.
NATE: Those all seem like… really easy steps to take. Do we know why more scientists aren’t doing them?
CALLI: I can’t say for sure, Nate, but I agree. If we can all commit to learning more about our neighbors across the world, we can commit to making science more inclusive and well-rounded!
NATE: Quite.
CALLI: Quite!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up
CALLI: During the pandemic, many people’s mental health and sense of connection diminished. But thankfully, a new study has revealed that this can turn around by embracing four simple methods of social connection: having heart-to-hearts, giving and receiving help, maintaining positive vibes, and really just letting the ones you love know you love them! The best part is that, according to the research, we can see these benefits through both in-person and online communication!
NATE: A new experiment out of Beijing promises to bring us the largest object ever created by 3D printing: a fully functional dam. The method for creating the dam is so efficient that it will begin construction in 2022 and be finished less than two years later. Unfortunately, the project raises the ethical question of whether automated artificial intelligence is replacing human laborers, so time will tell if this dam represents a golden opportunity - or a grim future.
CALLI: If less than twenty percent of the world speaks English, why is cognitive science so rooted in Western language? That’s the question at the center of a recent study that revealed that most western science is focused too heavily on English-speaking territories. But thankfully, with a little open-mindedness, we can help diversify what we know about cognitive science!