Categories
Uncategorized

First, empty the cup

The first step in adding information to a system is adding the idea that information CAN be added. If I offer up a proposal for fixing something, it may be rejected in its entirety–it may in fact be stupid no matter how enthusiastic I am about it–but it could cause someone else to come up with a completely different, better proposal, but one which would not have existed had I not started the process. This is an important qualitative point.

Most speech has two components: the overt part, and the implications. If, for example, I say someone is intelligent, it necessarily implies that not all people are intelligent. It implies I am capable of recognizing intelligence. It implies there is in fact such a thing as intelligence, and so on.