US intelligence agencies want to know how people use language, people who speak not just English but Spanish, Russian and Farsi. Specifically, it wants computer programs developed that can provide keys to how people think by the way the use metaphors. The ultimate grant could run to nine figures. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, IARPA, is a small research arm of the US intelligence establishment. It's ready to spend big money on The Metaphor Program, to analyze common turns of phrase to learn "in a deep and fundamental way [how] humans make sense of the world." That's according to Alexis Madrigal in The Atlantic magazine.
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