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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ33gAyhg2c |
The second half of the above video addresses games in communicating effectively.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Addendum, about games and language
[This post an addendum to one of the recent observations about reading/communicating not leading to mutual understanding. More on noematics 101.]
Troll dens*
We can't or don't read because we are not allowed to. We have limited information or are fed distracting noise.
Reading and writing under such a regime . . . communicating meaningfully in any way . . . dead.
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* Ukraine conflict: Inside Russia's 'Kremlin troll army' - BBC News
Over the past year, Russia has seen an unprecedented rise in the activity of "Kremlin trolls" - bloggers allegedly paid by the state to criticise Ukraine and the West on social media and post favourable comments about the leadership in Moscow.
But prominent journalist and Russia expert Peter Pomerantsev, however, believes Russia's efforts are aimed at confusing the audience, rather than convincing it.
'What Russians are trying to go for is kind of a reverse censorship', he told Ukrainian internet-based Hromadske TV ('Public TV'). They cannot censor the information space, but can 'trash it with conspiracy theories and rumours', he argues.Posting messages on publicly accessible internet sites have had the effect of shutting off dialogue on events of the day.
Reading and writing under such a regime . . . communicating meaningfully in any way . . . dead.
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* Ukraine conflict: Inside Russia's 'Kremlin troll army' - BBC News
Third observation
Gosh, realize where you are, or activate the literacy required to be in another place other than "where you think you are."
An immigrant from Africa arrives on Lampedusa. He has no papers. He gives you his name, and you don't know if it is really his or not. He doesn't tell you where he is from. He doesn't speak your language, but he has escaped from some hell or misfortune; and for all purposes practical he says he is your responsibility. You must treat him like a human being. You give him pasta with tomato sauce because he is hungry. He says this food is not fit for humans to eat.
He has only part of the context, his own, which he has attempted to force upon his interlocutor. He commits the sin of not understanding the relatio-spatio-temporal context. He is no longer living in his context; he is now in one made by and for Italians and Europeans. Thus, pasta with tomato sauce.
Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky got into it recently, and part of their now published discussion had to do with whether or not to publish an email interchange. Although not an easy read and embedded within are words as keys to who has said something of substance or not, my take is that here at the other end of the literate spectrum--"sophisticated" and nuanced writing and reading--context is (was) (also) all important.
My paraphrase of this aspect of their so-called "non-interchange" is this: At Sam's urging, Noam consented to publishing their emails even though he, Noam, found the idea weird and self-aggrandizing. As a result of the non-interchange, Sam felt he could claim the higher ground by showing that they(?) had reached The Limits of Discourse, which was not what their conversation was about to begin with.
What? The publication of a private conversation demonstrated the limits of discourse? What happened to the issues they were discussing? Weren't they the compelling reason for publishing? Apparently not, because Sam ignored or tanked 'em, that is created/framed another context.
But you decide.* This is just my reading . . . which is again, I contend, confusion about context, or the game, the two created as they jousted.
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* The Limits of Discourse : As Demonstrated by Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky : Sam Harris
An immigrant from Africa arrives on Lampedusa. He has no papers. He gives you his name, and you don't know if it is really his or not. He doesn't tell you where he is from. He doesn't speak your language, but he has escaped from some hell or misfortune; and for all purposes practical he says he is your responsibility. You must treat him like a human being. You give him pasta with tomato sauce because he is hungry. He says this food is not fit for humans to eat.
He has only part of the context, his own, which he has attempted to force upon his interlocutor. He commits the sin of not understanding the relatio-spatio-temporal context. He is no longer living in his context; he is now in one made by and for Italians and Europeans. Thus, pasta with tomato sauce.
Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky got into it recently, and part of their now published discussion had to do with whether or not to publish an email interchange. Although not an easy read and embedded within are words as keys to who has said something of substance or not, my take is that here at the other end of the literate spectrum--"sophisticated" and nuanced writing and reading--context is (was) (also) all important.
My paraphrase of this aspect of their so-called "non-interchange" is this: At Sam's urging, Noam consented to publishing their emails even though he, Noam, found the idea weird and self-aggrandizing. As a result of the non-interchange, Sam felt he could claim the higher ground by showing that they(?) had reached The Limits of Discourse, which was not what their conversation was about to begin with.
What? The publication of a private conversation demonstrated the limits of discourse? What happened to the issues they were discussing? Weren't they the compelling reason for publishing? Apparently not, because Sam ignored or tanked 'em, that is created/framed another context.
But you decide.* This is just my reading . . . which is again, I contend, confusion about context, or the game, the two created as they jousted.
_____
* The Limits of Discourse : As Demonstrated by Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky : Sam Harris
Second observation
Words as the building blocks can lead us in right and wrong directions. Get a word wrong and off you go onto the shoulder and out into the wastelands bordering more direct routes to our destinations and fates.
James Krupa tackles a currently misshapen word as used in the context of science. He asserts that "To truly understand evolution, you must first understand science." He goes on to help develop this thesis about getting words wrong.*
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* Orion Magazine | Defending Darwin
James Krupa tackles a currently misshapen word as used in the context of science. He asserts that "To truly understand evolution, you must first understand science." He goes on to help develop this thesis about getting words wrong.*
Unfortunately, one of the most misused words today is also one of the most important to science: theory. Many incorrectly see theory as the opposite of fact. The National Academy of Sciences provides concise definitions of these critical words: A fact is a scientific explanation that has been tested and confirmed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing it; a theory is a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence generating testable and falsifiable predictions.
In science, something can be both theory and fact. We know the existence of pathogens is a fact; germ theory provides testable explanations concerning the nature of disease. We know the existence of cells is a fact, and that cell theory provides testable explanations of how cells function. Similarly, we know evolution is a fact, and that evolutionary theories explain biological patterns and mechanisms. The late Stephen Jay Gould said it best: 'Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.'
Theory is the most powerful and important tool science has, but nonscientists have perverted and diluted the word to mean a hunch, notion, or idea. Thus, all too many people interpret the phrase 'evolutionary theory' to mean 'evolutionary hunch.'Ya gotta get the words right first, and by extension, the context in which they are used.
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* Orion Magazine | Defending Darwin
First observation
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| Dorothea Lange. On the Road to Los Angeles, California, 1937 |
I gave my students this instruction: Describe what you see in this picture.
One student answered in five hundred words beginning with this sentence. "I see the beginning or end of a story that has two characters who have decided they will not or cannot board a train for a distant destination."
Did he pass this part of the exit exam for English as a foreign language? Why, or why not?
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