Posted by
Steve Smith on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Re-Direct-conversation-tp3137870p3140340.html
glen e. p. ropella uttered/spake/emitted/gurgitated:
> But there are many lessons, perhaps _most_, that are best communicated
> with things like koans. And, in fact, given the inherent ambiguity
> (multi-valence) of natural language, one could argue that _all_
> communication is a generalized koan, with no clear description. Talking
> about ambiguous descriptions is like talking about non-elephant
> zoology... to borrow from Ulam.
>
> A mandated method to be clear as possible as much as possible would be
> just as effective and efficient as a mandate to be as vague as possible
> as much as possible. To be clear, I claim that neither conviction is
> more effective or efficient than the other. Particular methods must be
> chosen for the proper context.
>
I sympathize with your characterization of "_all_ communication as a
generalized koan" but I am not sure I agree on your followup point. I'm
not sure the two examples (clear as possible vs vague as possible) are
reciprocal (complementary?). I am sympathetic with Russ (and others)
who want for well-defined terms in a conversation, but I believe for
various reasons that this is much harder than it sounds... (appealing
back to your "generalized koan" description of natural language).
I am working on a project to aid scientists from disparate disciplines
collaborate on an inter-disciplinary project (e.g. ecologists,
biologists, meteorologists, economists, urban/regional planners
collaborating on Climate Change). These folks all have pretty "clear"
terms and concepts among their own peers, but these terms might very
well have somewhat similar or wildly different meanings in the contexts
of other disciplines. Sometimes trying really hard to be clear about a
simple term in one discipline leads to a long and elaborate explanation
in the terms of another discipline. If the members of both disciplines
do NOT have a lot of shared terms or even concepts (e.g. Meteorology vs
Economy) this can be even harder.
- Steve
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