Conversational AE (APPLIED EPISTEMOLOGY)

[Mick Harper]

I keep working on that last line. Some suggestions would be welcome.

[Mick Harper]

...
Punter: I don't think that follows at all.
AE-ist: You mean you may just have been unlucky.
Punter: How do mean?
AE-ist: Well, you have just found out that even people who find your food terrible may not complain about it. You have said they don't complain about it even if asked -- there must be some -- so you have been unlucky in asking a person who might.
Punter: Unless you're a one-off like I said and as you have now confirmed.
AE-ist: That may be true in that I'm someone who doesn't mind speaking his mind but it is unlikely to be true in that I have peculiar taste buds and expectations.
Punter: So I should conclude we serve terrible food?
AE-ist: No, you should conclude you have a terrible system for finding out.

[Mick Harper]

The format seems to be catching on. Here's one that was on Substack

Activist: The water usage for beef is obscene. Thousands of litres per kilogram.
Farmer: That's rainfall.
Activist: What?
Farmer: The figure includes all the rain that falls on the pasture. The cows drink from the stream. The rain falls whether there's a cow here or not.
Activist: It's still water consumption.
Farmer: Should I stop the rain falling on my field?
Activist: Grow crops instead. More efficient.
Farmer: This is a 35-degree slope in the Welsh hills. Show me the crop.
Activist: Technology...
Farmer: To make tractors climb mountains?
Activist: There must be a solution.
Farmer: There is. It's called a cow.
Activist: [checks phone]

I would use a different last line--this one seems rude--such as 'Is that the time, must rush' or 'I'll send you an email about it.' The argument, by the way, is a well-known one and one I have actually heard.

[Mick Harper]

Though ironically the actual situation is dictated by other more pressing concerns

1. Welsh hill farming is notoriously uneconomic and consumes vast amounts of the available agricultural subsidies.
2. If it was not subsidised you'd have Welsh nationalism growing amuck.
3. If it was not grazed it would turn into unsightly boggy moorland.
4. If it was not grazed it would turn into temperate rainforest.
5. If it was not grazed it would be overrun by deer who would turn it into unsightly scrub.
6. If it was not grazed it would have to be expensively cleared of rhododendron, thistle, nettles, ferns, what have you.
7. If it was not grazed it would encourage local volunteer groups to do the above.
8. Damn, run out after seven, I must be slipping.

[Mick Harper]

A slight twist on an old theme.

Punter: This is rubbish.
AE-ist: Are you sure?
Punter: Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't say so if I didn't think so.
AE-ist: Yes, you would. In fact I know that is precisely what you did do.
Punter: How can you possibly know that?
AE-ist: If it was a new and unsettling idea, you would say it is rubbish. If you had thought it through and come to the conclusion it was rubbish you would have given the reasons.
Punter: What rubbish.

[Mick Harper]

Punter: Why don't you just tell us what to do?
AE-ist: Because if it is something you find to your taste you will either be doing it already or you won't need me to tell you how.
Punter: I assume the important stuff is things we won't want to do.
AE-ist: Correct. And if I tell you to do them, you just won't.
Punter: If we promise...?
AE-ist: Then you'll forget it all as soon as I've gone.
Punter: But, sir, you're our maths teacher. How else are we going to get a maths GCSE? It's a university entrance requirement.

[Mick Harper]

Punter: Why are you always slagging people off?
AE-ist: Because they constantly make simple errors.
Punter: If they can't spot them, how come you can?
AE-ist: Because I'm an applied epistemologist.
Punter: Do they admit they are errors?
AE-ist: No.
Punter: So how can you be sure they are errors?
AE-ist: Because they are simple. The errors, I mean.
Punter: Does it make any difference to the future behaviour of those you slag off?
AE-ist: No.
Punter: So what was the point of slagging them off?
AE-ist: Erm...

[Mick Harper]

I've probably posted this up before -- it's a year old -- but I received an email today saying someone had 'liked' it and this is so unusual I thought I'd share my joy with you. (Also it has two AE messages, a routine one from me and an inadvertent one from him.)
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Mick Harper Mar 12, 2025

You constantly avoid one really quite obvious alternative. Just don't have a position on the political spectrum at all. There is absolutely no need for it. As each political problem arrives before you, solve it! There is no requirement to approach it from a priori position. There is certainly no necessity to pluck an existing answer off the shelf.

It is true each time you 'solve it' you might find yourself lined up with, say, the Left, but that doesn't mean you can't line up with the Right on the next problem. Or even the same problem in a different place or at a different time. Though often, after a bit of practice, you will find yourself coming up with a solution that is novel, that is all your own.

It's easy once you get used to it, though ridding yourself of left (or right or centrist) assumptions does take a bit of time. Whether it will do you or the world any good is another matter.

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Shane Fitzgerald Mar 12, 2025

Eristics. Learn the art of dialectics and we'll talk.

Like (1) Reply (1)
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Mick Harper Mar 12, 2025

That's OK, just fire away. I can take it.

Like (0) Reply (0)

[Mick Harper]

AE-ist: Blah blah
Punter: That's just eristics.
AE-ist: What are eristics?
Punter: A form of dialectics.
AE-ist: But what about what I said?
Punter: You didn't say anything.
AE-ist: Surely I must have if it was dialectical.

[Mick Harper]

[Mick Harper]

Punter: Oh do shut up, you sound like my eight-year-old son.
AE-ist: He argues the toss with you as well, does he?
Punter: Constantly. He never shuts up.
AE-ist: And does he also smash you every time?
Punter: He thinks he does.

[Mick Harper]

AE-ist: Following the local elections disaster what should the party do to mend its electoral fortunes?
Labour MP: Since our voters turned in their millions to Reform we ought to move rightwards to occupy the centre ground.
AE-ist: For my records, where do you yourself stand in the party?
Labour MP: I am usually thought of as on the right.

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AE-ist: Following the local elections disaster what should the party do to mend its electoral fortunes?
Labour MP: Since our voters turned in their millions to the Greens we ought to move leftwards to compete with them.
AE-ist: For my records, where do you yourself stand in the party?
Labour MP: I am usually thought of as on the left.

[Mick Harper]

AE-ist: I disagree with you.
Punter: Too bad.
AE-ist: Still, it's pause for thought.
Punter: What is?
AE-ist: My disagreeing with you.
Punter: Why should it be?
AE-ist: I might be right.
Punter: And I should take your word for it?
AE-ist: No, I said it was 'pause for thought'.
Punter: All right, I've thought about it, and you weren't.
AE-ist: Damn, now I'll have to think about it.

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Mick Harper]