Daniel Everett

A linguist and former missionary Daniel Everett on the Piraha people, their beliefs, way of life and how they have turned him atheist.

[@nnnnnnnnnnn7292]

This is one of the most important videos I have seen so far. You can't conquer a happy person. And you can control only those who are unhappy. And I have no wish to control anyone. Thank you! ❤

[@RAMULUS31]

the common ground between the priest and the tyrant: both feed on the misery of their subjects

[@sepuste]

Noam Chomsky is the one who pressed the dislike button :)

[@Vindignatio]

confused, please elaborate

[@gabestanton1949]

@@Vindignatio dan everett's work with the pirahã challenges a lot of ideas proposed by noam chomsky about how languages work and what all languages have in common

[@unusuario5173]

@@Vindignatio there's even a documentary about it here on KZbin. Search: Grammar of happiness.

[@daultonbaird6314]

I could listen to Dan for hours. I bet he has hundreds of stories. Where can I find more

[@georgiawendt2782]

Yes i also hear every talk and red his book...i would love to know what the Piraha talk about day and night 😅 and more of their humour, their way of thinking and their perspectives

[@alloutride]

@@georgiawendt2782 I love to read his book I think it's not available in my country Philippines.

[@NeepThePeep]

Why do people feel the need to tarnish such pure cultures? They are happy, they have everything they need in nature and within themselves. I wish I could live naturally, no worries about money, or jobs, nothing like that. It sounds like a beautiful existence.

[@Shineinpoverty]

Because more civilized societies always expanded and took less advanced. Even if it is fairly peaceful and civilized, you take the children of these tribes and put them for few months in a city like NY, and they wont go back. And there is one very simple reason for that any sane person recognizes, life is better in advanced societies. It is safer, it is longer (not always but true for absolute majority) you get access to so many things that you have to have some very special set of values to go back to your primitive life. And please note, there are advances of a lifestyle these primitive people live. It is just the civilization has such an overwhelming pros that 99/100 chose the latter.

[@dennisduncan7561]

Your assumption is extremely pompous shine. These people don't need a more "advanced" civilization. They have everything they need right where they are.You assume because they don't have a westernized/industrialized culture they must be primitive but they seem more content and happier than people in western countries.

[@keegster7167]

@@dennisduncan7561 Why do you assume they don't want anything from the outside world though? They might. I'd say let them choose, as Dan Everett tried to do as a missionary. He didn't want to force them to become Christian after all. In general, we should stop thinking of people who live differently than us as like children that need to be protected. They are grown men and women who can decide what they want for themselves. We just need to be careful not to lie to them, intimidate them, or coerce them, but they might very well want something from the outside world.

[@Jefferdaughter]

The estimation of about 15 hours per week work to provide for oneself and dependants is about the same figure I once heard given for the Australian aboriginies. When Europeans encountered people who lived like the Piraha as Everett describes, and the Australian aboriginies, among many other groups around the world, they considered them to be lazy. Keep in mind that the average American is probably working the first six months of each year to pay taxes. Hard to believe? Try totally what you pay each year for income taxes, Social Security, sales tax, tolls, dog licenses, gasoline tax, property taxes (whether paid directly or via rent), annual taxes on your car, and taxes on other things you already bought and paid for and own) - these and other 'fees' add up to a huge chunk of what Americans earn each year. Heck, I left out medical tax.

[@daultonbaird6314]

Jefferdaughter Great comment. btw that's a beautiful cat . What's the breed?

[@dianneb2224]

The willing horse is always overworked….Charles Darwin

[@Eliphas_Leary]

Can't we get some Pirahã to go out into the world and do some missionizing?

[@dasGagaTier]

I would doubt that they are interested in doing so.

[@desiderata8811]

Great idea

[@mayaclay]

This is so good. More Americans needs to see this.

[@christrinder1255]

This is the most interesting and informative video that I have seen for many years. I am an atheist and have been since the age of 11. I found his journey to the Amazon as a missionary and instead of converting the Pirahan, being converted by them to atheism by their day lives. Many thanks for posting. PS I too know know guilt, but my guilt is the kind that is knowing I have let some fellow human being down , or maybe said an unkind word, nothing to do with going to heaven or hell. I know for sure as with other animals, plants and every other living thing on this planet, there’s a time to be born (if your lucky enough) and a time to die, and give nourishment back to the earth.

[@sasa3766]

You are Right, Chomsky is Wrong !!! Congratulations Daniel, Keep up the Good Work !!!

[@ujdurma7]

What exactly is Chomsky wrong about?

[@MontyCantsin5]

@@ujdurma7: Probably just about everything with regard to language. Chomsky even admits that his views occupy a minority position.

[@kadene2]

I cried when he described how they took care of the elderly, these pagans.

[@sandragiani9888]

Oh Daniel, so sad to hear you like this! I still pray for you.

[@hauntedhose]

No u didn’t

[@cesarsojo243]

it really got me too

[@suranumitu7734]

They're not pagans.

[@dennisduncan7561]

He doesn't need your sympathy sandra.

[@staf5496]

Хомский не истина последней инстанции. продолжай нести свет знания Эверетт!

[@00Fugitive00]

amazing ... thanks for upload!

[@MrsTabby1963]

Remarkable lecture. I want to learn more!

[@Efilzeo]

Fantastic speech, thank you for uploading it.

[@user-hh2is9kg9j]

22:41 Here I started questioning this guy's authenticity.

[@TheDruidKing]

Would seasonality or resources not drive a need for future planning that would manifest in the language?

[@KevinWunn]

Man, the Piraha lifestyle sounds pretty sweet.

[@amandarios448]

The sad thing is that the genocide of American Natives is not yet recognized and it's still happening and Corona might wipe out even more people. So please if you can donate your time, attention, sharing a post or donate some money to charities that protect the Amazonian tribes. They are not being protected by the government, Brazil's government just tried to cut their supply of clean water and basic materials... they might also never get the vaccines because things are being done to continue the genocide because they're still seen as pagan and inferior outside of their lands which they are losing. It's been bad and now it's getting worse again. Native people saved my life so everywhere I go I try to bring light to this. They have so much to teach us 💔💖

[@magritte128]

This guy is incredibly entertaining. I don't care much for the subjects he's speaking about, but wow. Riveting speaker.

[@arpussupra]

I wanted to ask for your permission to reupload this video with german subtitles.. is this ok?

[@santsuma]

Go ahead and do it, man. The uploader is not the owner of the video, it's a public talk, no copyrights.

[@DeconvertedMan]

Wonderful. :)

[@Ermain1]

You're welcome)

[@annford6640]

"... both words are possible, and completely irrelevant." #priceless

[@kishoretadiparthiexplorer2958]

The best words are spend with strangers wow

[@desiderata8811]

The Pirahā crushes the idea that in the beginning of humanity we needed religion and superstition to stay together. Imagine If Pirahā culture took over the world thousands of years ago instead of religion. Today we could be exploring the stars. Science and democracy would have raised much sooner.

[@adamclark1972uk]

Would have risen (not raised)

[@alloutride]

I like the way he talk. Um also an atheist

[@miguelazafran8962]

500 LIKES !!!!!

[@thangquanteecom]

I couldn't hear him clearly. The greatest invention by the Mayan was "porn" or "corn"?

[@adamclark1972uk]

Corn

[@suranumitu7734]

He said Torn, the song by Natalia Imbruglia.

[@johnhall9222]

Ths is some funny sh*t.

[@imakulateabortion]

You guys are missing the point, focus on the cultural-linguistic aspects of this talk. That is what is important.

[@rafelingd]

God is apparently a bene gesserit, has an entire missionaria protectiva.

[@manilichros7595]

Переведите это пожалуйста на русский

[@_yellow]

Теперь есть субтитры, которые можно автоматически переводить на русский

[@jeffjohnson5908]

I'm pagan so I believe in the source of souls and consciousness is god and that polytheism was meant as ideal role models for children of different personalities based off vedic astrology. Also this was hilarious. Loved it.

[@Yesica1993]

Just a comment on the book, as I haven't watched the video: I read his book some years ago. I expected more of the spiritual aspect to understand why he chose to reject Christ. But it was more about the linguistics, so it was a bit over my head. What's disturbing to me is that this man had access & insight to a people that not many others did. Instead of using this to continue to let them know about about the pardon/payment for sins available Christ, he chose to reject Christ and withhold this information from them. Again, I read the book hoping to find answers as to why he did this. But I didn't find them. He told some personal stories and such, but not really an explanation for his complete change of mind & direction.

[@stephengloss5364]

@Yesica1993 I think you missed the entire point of his book. He didn't reject Christ, He rejected a claim about the world that didn't hold up to scrutiny.

[@austinlang6946]

Although I believe in God. He also discusses how colonial the mindset he had really was and that he needed to make these people who clearly weren’t lost feel as if they were for him to provide them a solution.

[@daultonbaird6314]

16:59 = loaves and fishes . They don't need Christianity - they practice what Jesus taught .

[@daultonbaird6314]

***** Hairy Jesus ? but really when you read the words of him as regarding human interaction, a true liberal can't deny jesus - the first true liberal . Love your neighbor , forgive your brother . but he probably frowned on laziness (a conservative trait) 2000 years ago he set the prime example and most of us aren't as good s the Piraha atheists.

[@GinEric84]

Daulton Baird How do you know that? there are no contemperary accounts of the guy

[@walentinwasielewski3530]

this is not the dignity of the tribe, but a misunderstanding. The Piraha do not understand the essence of death because they do not have a system of tenses in the language. In fact, they are developed at the level of a five - year-old child who has not yet understood what death is, where morality and ethics as methods of development come from-after all, they do not even have development.

[@austinlang6946]

Genuinely a ridiculous comment. You basically just said “there language is of such that they are stupid” 5 year olds can’t run through the Amazon and hunt and navigate how they do along with many other things. They absolutely understand death because they have burials. These ppl are extremely intelligent. You could not go to the Amazon and get around, you’d die within 72 hours. Find a better argument bc this isn’t a good one. Your idea of “smart” is corrupted by the western idea of what smart is. Smart is a culturally relevant term

[@walentinwasielewski3530]

@@austinlang6946 there is a misunderstanding between us: 1. on the one hand, indeed, that's exactly what I said. But it is necessary that even among animals, cubs differ from adults in terms of survival opportunities in the wild. You ignore this level of comparison. If we consider only people, then tell me, for what reason can children calmly run out onto the road or go out on the windowsill at a high altitude? I think that for the the reason that they do not understand danger, they do not understand death. Yes, children can always distinguish a dead bug from a living one, but they cannot understand that death is a problem for them in the future. Everyone knows that each of us has been through this moment of awareness of death as a problem. This is the moment of the emergence of morality and ethics: when a person begins to understand why you can't run out on the road, why you can't drink dirty water or jump from a height. This may threaten death (future tense). Understanding is the process of transferring the experience of the past into the future, while perceiving it as the present. Martin Heidegger spoke about this on the first page of Sein und Zeit: "... the Interpretation of time as the possible horizon for any understanding whatsoever of Being." The Piraha are at an intermediate stage. They already have a language, but this language does not give them an "understanding of the problem", which means it does not give them the opportunity to overcome it. Therefore, they do not store food as overcoming the problem of hunger; they have burials, but there is no burial ritual as overcoming the problem of death; they do not help the woman in labor howling in pain, and Everett describes this case. That's what I'm focusing on. If there is no understanding of the problem, it does not mean that there is no problem. 2. So time, as the ability to understand, forms the mind. "Mind" in my understanding is the ability to imagine the future and the past. This ability is given only by a language with a grammar of tenses. Only this ability makes it possible to understand problems. And only understanding the problems makes it possible to overcome them. Remember how Everett describes their "inability" to build a boat after they built a boat? That`s it. If a Piraha does not have such an element of language, then they do not have a mind. They have the ability to survive in very limited conditions. If the fish in the river runs out for any natural reason, they will simply die out. This is their weakness. Any living creatures have adaptability. But it is not intelligence. 3. Modern man is really not adapted to life in a natural environment. But only because he created social, technological, energy systems, that overcome the problems of the natural environment: hunger, cold, diseases, dangers of wildlife. And it would be strange for us to fall a level lower. We need to go even higher: to overcome fundamental problems. This is the path to Superman.

[@dennisduncan7561]

Sure

[@janvaneechoud2715]

You never hád faith.... You had a BLIND faith.....

[@anoj06]

Jan van Eechoud if faith is believing without seeing and evidence, isn't that blind itself?

[@alloutride]

Faith is scam

[@POWERSTARKINGSDOTCOM]

Look, if he turned atheist because another tribe does not know God then he never was intimate with Yahweh. Paul said through the spirit "they came out from us because they were never from us"

[@Ermain1]

I'm afraid a Bible reference is not a good substitute for logic.

[@POWERSTARKINGSDOTCOM]

Well they should never be in the same category because the Carnal or Logical man can not understand the things of God. That why Jesus said the prostitutes and the thieves are coming in the kingdom of God before You. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Why would a person ask for water if he could just take it in his sink. That is why The Father says "A person must believe God(Elohim) exist and that God is a rewards to those who diligently seek him. So those who don't honor the father is just fulfilling the word of God. Hope you get understand one day because He is Amazing and I dont like most modern churches. The Father showed himself to me while i was homeless. Not in a church.

[@Ermain1]

PowerStarVoiceDotCom You see, using logic can be useful in times, like for example you could have made a blind guess that I'm probably not really bothered by the risk of not getting to an imaginary land. Oh yes, and I'm pretty sure there's not a word about Me in the Bible. It's really more about role modelling in judaic herecies rather than a step by step guide for weak trolling.

[@selenecorvin2048]

PowerStarVoiceDotCom 'carnal or logical man '? Are you admitting your not a logical man then? I really hope your not referring to the brilliant people in these tribes as carnal. The society of these people, if jesus is real, he would obviously be very impressed with them. They are nicer than most Christians I know. They care for one another,look after each other, love life, cause no problems. But,I guess the loving god who rescued YOU, is going to burn THEM in hell fire because they don't need the concept of him. that's how Christianity works is it not? Which is probably why this man questioned everything. To say he never was a true christian is complete nonsense and delusional on your part...he went into a remote jungle,with 3 children,one of which was 9 months old and the nearest town was one week away on a boat...and he went on faith alone. Anyone logical and not faith filled, would probably not dare put their young children at risk like that. This man believed it was gods will and he was covered by God. That's the most pompous christian view 'they never really were a Christian '. He,totally,was!

[@zemorph42]

Alright, you go live among the Pirahã for two years, learn their language and culture, then try to convert them.

[@ivanpanic63]

U dont belive in Jesus? Ask people who came to occult and who gone into it deepley and if u copy them and get in truble with demonic spirits then came back and tell me u wont belive in God,u will beg for his help! God bless and Jesus love u,go to confession in ortodox church,repent and be free and enjoy life!

[@stephengloss5364]

Stop with the guilt tripping. Your attempts at fear are worthless here.

[@alloutride]

Show me ur god.hahah