Logically Speaking, Period 6, 19 May '09

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

Mohinder was standing at the front of the classroom, as he passed out a few handouts.

"Alright," he started. "One of the first points to winning your arguments is to make sure your opponent has the same frame of reference you do. If your company is 50 billion in debt you need to know if that's a million million or thousand million Australian, Canadian or American. Language and meaning change over time, distance and even how a sentence is put together can lead to it being misinterpreted."

"This can be exploited in argument or lying by telling the truth, or at least a precisely defined honesty and is invaluable in programming a computer that's smart enough to understand what you told it but not to know what you meant. Now, I want you try these handouts while talking with each other - see what impression you can make without actually saying anything false."

[OCD is up!]

Comments

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Well, Valentine figured she should give this thing a try. It seemed a little silly, considering she had an entire world fooled into thinking she was something much different than the eleven year old girl that she was then, but it would be good to brush up on the basics.

She gave an unpartnered person a smile. "Salutations."

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He bowed his head.

"Good day."

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"And what might your ruminations on such an assignment be?"

Apparently, Valentine was in the mood to make the impression that she was far more archaic than a girl from a century and a half in the future would be.

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Sounded like a heap of nonsense, frankly," he said, adding a faint Gilikin twang to his words, the way Trism spoke when he was especially tired.

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Now, whatever might inspire you to think that?" Valentine asked.

Besides, you know, that that was probably the impression he was trying to give.

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I came here trying to speak my mind a bit straighter and this class is all about twisting it around."

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

That answer made Valentine grin a little. "In order to go straight, one must first go 'round and 'round."