According to Donald Trump, the best words come from--Donald Trump! What if he's right? What if his 4th grade vocabulary is actually changing expectations of public discourse? What if 77 words are really all that's needed from a president? Episode 9 explores how political speech is eliminating facts and content, reducing it to simple emotional triggers that provoke strong feelings and reinforce categorical thinking. Bonus: Rudy Guliani, America's Mayor, reclassifies truth as...not truth.

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From Dialectics to Dog Whistles-The Best Words! (S1E10)

Religious texts speak of wonder, miracles and the soul. But it gets better: do the words themselves have power? We talk with Matthew Stackhouse, a pastor, teacher and speaker on theology about the power and sanctity of words, as well as the special role of words in some of the world's great religions. Then we get underneath religious language into the concepts that make these words powerful and everlasting.  

Can Words Be Divine? (S1E9)

In June of 1971, US government agents shot an NRA member in his home. This event started a change in language and politics that exposed deep beliefs about guns in America, changes that ultimately established an individual right to a gun. Base Code looks underneath the language and culture to reveal the true drivers of this change. In this episode, Harry shops for guns at a local supermarket, we learn about the word 'right' and the thinking behind it, and try to understand why 3% of Americans own half of the country's 300 Million guns.

Fighting Words: America's Second Amendment (S1E8)

Love: verb or noun? Concept or action? The answers to these questions sometimes elude us, and looking across cultures we find evidence that the thinking behind these words might just be substantially different. We learn from Poets, Translators and Scientists about the art, culture and neurology of sharing concepts like love.

Does Love Translate? (S1E7)

Tokyo Comedians Aziz Vora, Evans Musoka Luseno, Hagar and others guide us on a journey to discover the universal joke. They help us understand what it's like to write and tell jokes in a foreign country, often in a foreign language.  Surprisingly, they identify several topics that all humans may consider funny, and discuss the deep satisfaction that comes from their efforts.

Massage of the Soul: What Drives Comedy? (S1E6)

Bill Wood's stories have delighted audiences in America for almost 30 years. Basecode joins Bill on a journey to discover why and how we tell stories, starting with a shocking premise taken directly from an unexpected source. Topics include: the origin of words, creative listening, and enchantment.

Words Create Worlds (S1E5)

The Germanic Language called English developed over 1,600 years mostly through the conquest of Britain by waves of European Invaders. This bonus episode was made at the request of listeners and is partly a history of English and partly a love note to English--with occasional good-hearted satire.

English Isn't Very English (S1E4)

As Artificial Intelligence develops languages on-demand, what can we learn from human languages to predict how AI will evolve? We look at Japanese, Swahili and English for a deeper understanding of how machines are creating more language than has ever been spoken in the history of the world--and the implications for existing languages. Also: Cannibalism and Placentaphagy in Japan.

You, I, Everything Else: The Language of AI (S1E3)

When we look at how people convert thinking into language, a surprising result appears: not all cultures think in the same way. Deeper investigation shows that your language may actually determine what and how you perceive events in the first place.  In Episode 2 of Base Code, we look under the influence of language to learn some of the theories of how and why language may have developed, debate whether grammar might be inborn, and study the influence of paralanguage, such as gesture and tone, on meaning, and the economics of language itself.

Under the Influence of Language (S1E2)

Almost 2,500 years ago, a greek professor defined the rules for establishing Truth. The logic he required for thinking placed ideas and reasoning over facts. By looking at a culture new to deductive reasoning, we investigate how individuals and societies formulate beliefs--often in spite of evidence.

Blame Aristotle for Fake News (S1E1)

Season 1: Looking under the influence of language to determine the common drivers of thought and interaction

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