Shadowing Practice: The computer will turn society upside down | Krishnamurti - Learn English Speaking with Video
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The computer can do everything that man can do.
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It can learn.
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It has been programmed as our brain is programmed – to be a Catholic, to be a Protestant, to be a Hindu, to be a Buddhist.
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You understand all this?
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Of course, your brain is programmed, whether you like it or not,
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you have to observe it, otherwise you wouldn't call yourself a Hindu or a communist.
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Christ, your brain has been cultivated through time,
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and through that time which is the acquisition of experience,
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knowledge and so on, that brain has been programmed,
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has been conditioned to respond according to certain reactions, this is inevitable.
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That brain is now being given over to the computer.
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Please realise this, the computer is becoming your brain, the human brain.
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The computer plus the robot are already operating in manufacturing things,
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like cars, all kinds of things are happening in about ten, fifteen years, you will be unemployed.
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You have to face all this.
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Society is going to be turned upside down, it is coming, whether you like it or not,
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it is at your door.
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Now, do you understand the seriousness of all this?
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I wonder if you do.
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that your brain, which has been so extraordinarily capable,
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suffered innumerable sorrows, lives in great anxiety,
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frightened, insecure, the whole psychological world which is the result of thought.
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That thought, with all its knowledge, is being transferred to the computer and the robot.
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So man, then what is he – you understand my question?
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If the computer can do everything that you can, your brain can, which is it can learn,
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it can correct itself, it can foresee much more than human beings can,
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its responses are instantaneous, because it is programmed that way,
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then what is man?
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You understand all this?
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The computers say, I believe in God – oh,
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you people laugh, you don't see this seriousness of all this happening to all of us.
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The computer can compose a poem,
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can compose, can diagnose better than any doctor.
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You understand?
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And then we ask, one asks, what is man, what are you?
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If the machine can do everything even better than you, what are you?
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Which is, our brains have operated mechanically,
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it believes, it doesn't believe, it creates its own gods,
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its own philosophies, the computer can create a philosophy, better than any philosopher.
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So what have we left?
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You understand my question?
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If the machine can take over everything that man can do, and do it still better than us,
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Then what is a human being, what are you?
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Your belief in God, the machine has a belief in God, it will do rituals better than you can do,
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it can invent theories better than any philosopher.
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Do you understand all this?
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So what have we left?
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What we have left is our psychological world.
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You understand?
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Our sorrow, our fears, our pleasures,
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our anxieties, our immense loneliness.
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You understand all this?
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That is what we are going to be left with.
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Not with your gods.
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The gods have been invented by man, by thought.
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You have shaped gods according to your desires, your fears.
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So computers can do all that.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 57 sentences and 533 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:51. The speaker talks slowly, about 68 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| anxiety noun | /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/ | An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event. |
| psychological adjective | /ˌsaɪ.kəˈlɑː.d͡ʒɪ.kl̩/ | Of or pertaining to psychology. |
| robot noun | /ˈɹoʊ.bɑt/ | An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal. |
| sorrow noun | /ˈsɑɹoʊ/ | unhappiness, woe |
| philosopher noun | /fəˈlɑsəfɚ/ | A lover of wisdom. |
| invent verb | /ɪnˈvɛnt/ | To design a new process or mechanism. |
| seriousness noun | /ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/ | The state or quality of being serious. |
| suffer verb | /ˈsʌfɚ/ | To undergo hardship. |
| communist noun | /ˈkɑ.mjə.nɪst/ | An advocate of a society based on the common ownership of property; a proponent of communism. |
| acquisition noun | /ˌæk.wɪˈzɪʃ.ən/ | The act or process of acquiring. |
| realise verb | Non-Oxford British standard spelling of realize. | |
| poem noun | /ˈpoʊ.əm/ | A literary piece written in verse. |
| fifteen noun | /ˈfɪf.tiːn/ | An Irish traybake made with crushed digestive biscuits, marshmallows and glacé cherries combined with condensed milk and desiccated coconut. |
| inevitable adjective | /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ | Impossible to avoid or prevent. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| take over verb | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | has been programmed · is programmed · has been cultivated |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been programmed · has been cultivated · has been conditioned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | time which is · brain, which has · world which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, don't, wouldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, psychological /ˌsaɪ.kəˈlɑː.d͡ʒɪ.kl̩/, philosopher /fəˈlɑsəfɚ/, acquisition /ˌæk.wɪˈzɪʃ.ən/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like belief, anxiety, psychological.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.