Open Dialogue // The Power of Language

Can every human experience be described in words? And how much does language shape what we're able to experience?

Language allows us to make distinctions, recognize patterns, and share meaning. Metaphors are especially powerful: we understand time as something we spend, arguments as things we win, and organizations as machines or living systems. Each way of speaking brings certain possibilities into focus while leaving others in the background.

Drawing on cognitive science and complexity thinking, we'll explore the relationship between language, perception, and meaning-making. What does language make possible? What might it obscure? And can changing the words we use change the worlds we inhabit?

This conversation will be free-form, which means it might meander into adjacent topics. No need to prepare or bring anything but your curiosity and an open mind.