Gesture is everywhere. We wave our hands when we talk, even if we're alone. Signed languages are, of course, full languages that use gesture. And it could even be argued that emoji are the online equivalent of gesture. It's inescapable. And why would we want to do without it, when it's so useful? So we're talking about gesture and language with Dr Lauren Gawne, author of Gesture: A Slim Guide.

Our chat with Lauren is available on video, so you can see all the gestures! Link: https://youtu.be/kHPgyXhl8Kk

Timestamps

• Intros: 0:19
• News: 7:42
• Related or Not: 23:20
• Interview with Lauren Gawne: 44:10
• Words of the Week: 1:32:53
• The Reads: 1:48:10

It's Eurovision season! We love to talk about what we can learn about language from this international song contest, but even we didn't realise that there was so much to learn. Language choice, language policy, language and gender and metaphor — and all of this has been packed into a unit at Umeå University: Linguistics and the Eurovision Song Contest. Paulette van der Voet and Solveig Bollig are heading up the course, and they're here to tell us all about it… and nerd out with Hedvig besides.

Timestamps

• Cold open: 0:00
• Intros: 0:39
• News: 7:39
• Related or Not: 26:41
• Interview with Paulette and Solveig: 38:53
• Words of the Week: 1:30:08
• Comment from John: 1:49:18
• The Reads: 1:53:53
• Outtakes: 2:02:25

Artificial intelligence (so-called) is typified by its boom and bust cycles, and we're in a boom now. But as more and more money pours in with decreasing returns, we're going to see a shakeout, and hype is rushing in to stoke the enthusiasm. In other words, the con is on.

Dr Emily M. Bender and Dr Alex Hanna are co-hosts of the podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, and the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. They join us for this episode.