Episode 193: The Linguistics of "Darmok"

About this episode

Dr. Kristina Šekrst joins to explore the linguistic themes of the Star Trek episode 'Darmok'.

Guest: Dr. Kristina Šekrst Philosopher, linguist, and AI researcher Kristina Šekrst beams aboard to discuss the TNG episode "Darmok," where Picard and crew encounter the Tamarians, a species who only speak in metaphor. Why do we use metaphors? How would you lie in Tamarian? And can the universal translator ever exist? Follow us on Bluesky! Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social Kristina: https://bsky.app/profile/epiphenomenal.bsky.social

People in this episode

Host: Michael L. Wong

Guest: Dr. Kristina Šekrst

Topics covered

• linguistics
• metaphor
• Star Trek
• communication
• AI research

Keywords

• linguistics
• metaphor
• Darmok
• Star Trek
• communication
• AI
• TNG

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bluesky

Books & works: Darmok

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