{"text":[[{"start":7.55,"text":"The writer is a sociolinguist and the author of ‘Kiku: The Japanese Art of Good Listening’"}],[{"start":15.280000000000001,"text":"AI is often framed as a challenge to human intelligence. It builds on what we understand about how language is produced and recognised, performing these tasks with increasing speed and precision. What remains far less understood, however, is how our thinking is shaped by the way we listen."}],[{"start":36.13,"text":"While AI is seen to outperform humans in speed, pattern recognition and consistency, the strength of human intellect is often located in the more diffuse and harder-to-measure complexity of communication. "}],[{"start":53.97,"text":"AI systems process information by identifying patterns and generating outputs based on data that has already been encoded with meaning. They operate on what is legible, stable and defined. A human listener, by contrast, does more than interpret and respond to what they understand. They also take in what is not yet known, exploring it before it settles into something recognisable. They listen for meaning that has not yet fully formed, drawing on culture and experience to attend to tone, hesitation, ambiguity and what remains unsaid. Rather than eliminate variability and ambiguity, human listening works within it. "}],[{"start":99.37,"text":"This capacity to sit with uncertainty in listening remains largely unexplored, in part because it is difficult to measure, especially in comparison to speaking. "}],[{"start":113.16,"text":"What can be measured becomes visible and optimised, which is why contemporary work environments tend to favour clarity, speed and resolution. Employees are trained to filter and extract what is relevant, actionable and clear. These habits shape what can be heard. When listening becomes a process of selecting from preconceived meanings, some of what does not immediately fit is excluded. The result can be miscommunication and a narrowing of the space in which understanding might emerge."}],[{"start":147.8,"text":"The growing discomfort with the language of “active listening” reflects some of this tension. The term now often refers to observable behaviours such as nodding, paraphrasing and maintaining eye contact. These behaviours have value, but they shift attention towards how listening appears. It becomes possible to perform attentiveness without actually discovering anything new."}],[{"start":177.34,"text":"Other languages make this more explicit. In Japanese, the verb “to listen” can be written in different ways. One form, 聞く, refers to hearing or asking as a functional intake of information. Another, 聴く, points to a mode of engagement that involves staying with what is not yet fully articulated. The distinction is subtle, but it highlights something that English tends to compress. Listening is not a single act but a shifting orientation. Rather than simply supporting thinking or mirroring speaking, it shapes the conditions under which both can occur."}],[{"start":217.28,"text":"AI is making this distinction more visible. It demonstrates how far information processing can be extended, while also revealing what is lost when communication is treated primarily as clearly coded input and output. "}],[{"start":234.68,"text":"Systems can generate fluent responses without encountering uncertainty. But human communication takes place in fluid moments that resist rigid codification. Intelligence lies in a willingness to remain with what is still forming, allowing meaning to shift and develop."}],[{"start":256.13,"text":"Rather than compete with AI on speed and precision, we can use the technology to help clarify that the next shift in our understanding of communication does not lie in refining how efficiently we respond but in recognising what allows us to remain in conversation as meaning unfolds. The advantage of human intelligence is its ability to stay open, allowing understanding to emerge rather than forcing a resolution. "}],[{"start":297.73999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775890763_2997.mp3"}