A conversation with Noam Chomsky: Linguistics, SETI, Cognitive Science, & Artificial Intelligence (#059)

  Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential and highly cited
scholars of our time. He is a pioneer in the fields of linguistics
and cognitive science. This episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE covers
those topics and delves into his thoughts on communicating with
aliens, meditation, and free speech including his contribution to
the “Harper’s Magazine letter”. Chomsky is a prolific author and
known political activist. We avoided politics, as is the custom for
my interviews. Our conversation also covers the Turing Test, neural
nets, and artificial intelligence, including why he expects Elon
Musk’s Neuralink project to fail. Subscribe Professor Keating’s
mailing list to receive show notes for this episode. 00:11:00 Does
Noam Chomsky believe in extraterrestrial life & could we
communicate with E.T.? 00:26:30 Busting (or confirming) linguistic
myths with the master. 00:41:00 “There is no scientific method,
it’s just being intelligent.” 01:00:00 Artificial intelligence
applications in cognitive science. 01:11:25 Chomsky University
would encourage discovery. 01:23:44 Thoughts on the negative
reaction to the Harper’s Magazine article. 01:31:50 What object or
knowledge would Chomsky put in or on his monolith? 01:34:09 What
did Chomsky think was impossible until he did it? Noam Chomsky has
been called “the father of modern linguistics.” He has been a
professor at MIT since 1955 (now emeritus) and continues to teach
at the University of Arizona at the age of 91. Chomsky has received
numerous awards and honorary doctorates, along with being a member
of multiple professional societies. He has written over 100 books
covering topics including linguistics, politics, and philosophy.
Read “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” the letter in Harper’s
Magazine which Chomsky signed
https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ Watch
“Requiem for the American Dream” here https://youtu.be/hZnuc-Fv_Tc
Find Chomsky on the web: https://chomsky.info and Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Noam-Chomsky-294468630182/ ‍️ Find Brian
Keating on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Find Brian
Keating on Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Learn
more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices