@pfury, you would be doing me a kind favor if you read this particular post all the way through. Thank you.
I actually disagree. Having been a party to many of such conversations over the years, if you get the right combination of people who are willing to have a real conversations in good faith, they can be really good conversations.
The last one I had with @forlife and @kamui was really productive for all three of us. There was no vitriol or spite, just strong conversation. What really is required is that certain technical terms are understood to mean what they are intended to mean in a structured, academic sense.
For instance, terms like ‘nothing’ are understood to mean ‘not anything’ or more accurately an ‘utter lack of existence to the point where even naming it as ‘nothing’ is understood to be an oxymoron’. Because nothing doesn’t exist, literally.
If your flitting around with definitions like that, the conversations are agonizing. For instance, if you take the word ‘nothing’ and apply it in a non-academic, colloquial sense. Like saying, ‘I went to the store and they had nothing!’ In this sense ‘nothing’ is not understood as there was nothing in the store, but nothing you are willing to buy.
Certain words have technical definitions, beyond their use or misuse in daily linguistics. This is where the conversations get tangled up if not understood up front.
People with philosophical or scientific backgrounds understand the lexicon change quickly and can discern the difference in colloquial use and technical use. It’s easy to have a conversation with these folks. I never had any issues talking with Dr. Matt because he was a scientist (and a genius). We were able to have these conversations easily and he helped me out a lot.
So, yeah, with the wrong people these conversations can be painful. But if you find the right folks, its not only extremely productive, is actually fun…
Lastly, a conversation being difficult or painful doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have these conversations. Actually the opposite, we need to have them more. Dialog is our only civilized vehicle to sort out differences and understand each other better. Otherwise, we’re back down to fists and might, where might is right. Good ideas are communicated, not beat into you. So be it hard, or be it easy, conversations about hard things need to be had. The more civil the better, be even if not, it’s better than the alternative which is violence.
