Wednesday, January 31, 2018

"I wonder" instead of "hey Alexa!"

I wonder if anyone knows what I mean? The phrase "I wonder" is an English version of announcing a statement. I hereby copyright its use as a header on communication with a language agent.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Are narrative forms instinctual?

I want to say that Truisms are instinctual. Like Truism 7, X*::X,  is probably universal. Doesn't everyone like a happy ending? Similar for the simple patterns one sees in "The Elements of Narrative". Ouch, it hurts my head to think about!

 But I was thinking about music and how it has very explicitly articulated narrative structure - but it is not necessarily instinctual, or at least not entirely. Those highly evolved and complex musical narratives need no other analog in our experiences.

Friday, January 19, 2018

The Planning Process Made Visible in the Snow

I went out to look at some tracks, adventurously in my bare feet, and they were deer tracks going uphill from left to right. Later I was noticing my own footprints and how I seemed to weave a pretty sketchy path from here to there and back. 
But looking more closely you can see the whole logic of it. On the way out I went in a straight line out and down the steps and a pace or two further. Then I started to focus on the shortest path over to the deer tracks and headed that way. But in the process the local conditions included a patch of grass that looked like less reliable footing, so I curved around slightly to the right of it. Then I looked at the deer tracks, took a step uphill, then reversed direction. I remember that after a few steps back the way I came, I was having trouble putting my new footprints into the old ones so, after that, I am kind of weaving my way around, up onto the deck and in.