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

Sign In 2 (LS)

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

Honestly!

Listening 2 (LS)

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

Attentively?

Semantics 2 (LS)

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

The exact wording (http://www.folj.com/lateral/semantics.htm) can be pretty important.

Talking off each other - just how many false impressions and mistaken interpretations can fit in a conversation?

Talk to the TA 2 (LS)

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

Over here.

Talk to Mohinder 2 (LS)

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

He's around during and after class.

OOC 2 (LS)

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late. *hugs internets tight*

This reminds me of the time I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. The photo came out great.

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon O'Neill

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir Thropp

Re: Listening 2 (LS)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir was listening, and he was starting to wonder if this was the right class for him. He was very good at obfuscating things without lying. Ino called him on it all the time. He was more looking to NOT do that.

Well, one does what one must.

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire Bennet Butler

Re: Listening 2 (LS)

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire had a feeling that the things she learned in this workshop would be very useful for her in the future.

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

This could be a potentially dangerous exercise. Claire was going to have to be very careful about what she said.

Re: Talk to the TA 2 (LS)

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

The TA was definitely there and would be happy to talk to you.

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[intraspective]

Yamanaka Ino

Re: Listening 2 (LS)

[intraspective]

Ino was grinning, a bit viciously, at the topic. Oh, this was totally up her alley. Yes, yes it was.

She was totally good at noticing it.

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir was prepared to try this. Or rather, talk relatively normally and do everything Amber had been working on getting him to stop doing lately.

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine Wiggin

Re: Sign In 2 (LS)

[yakkoyaks.livejournal.com]

Yakko Warner

Re: Listening 2 (LS)

[yakkoyaks.livejournal.com]

Yakko was listening attentively.

(To a song that was playing in his head. But he WAS listening.)

Re: Listening 2 (LS)

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Ah, lies and truth. Truth and lies. Valentine wore an amused grin on her face as she listened to a topic she felt she could honestly say she knew plenty about.

Lies were sometimes more dependable than the truth.

Re: Listening 2 (LS)

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Fifty billion in debt? Wow, Gabrielle thought, that was a lot of dinars.

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Oh, plenty of those. Gabrielle was waaaaaaaaaaay too familiar with those kinds of conversations, sadly.

Not that it'd stop her from trying again.

Re: Semantics 2 (LS)

[yakkoyaks.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if I'll be any good at this assignment," Yakko said, choosing the 'dive right in' method of picking a partner.

And he didn't know if he'd be any good. He knew he'd be GREAT!

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."