Agonizing over a period versus an ellipsis? I recoil in horror at the thought of having such feelings routinely intrude into my consciousness.
It’s always interesting to see how the other half lives, even when it’s appalling.
I’m not sure who exactly “the other half” is here, but I’ll note that this is a completely relatable experience to me. If I’m writing a message where I expect the recipients to be highly connotation-sensitive, in a context where I have anything important riding on the impression I create, I’ll agonize over getting exactly the right phrasing and punctuation for ideal signaling effect.
I certainly don’t do it because I prefer it that way, but I can’t decide how seriously to have other people take the signaling content of my messages, so if I suspect it may be serious, I’ll invest a commensurate level of attention.
On Less Wrong, thankfully, I generally don’t feel compelled to do this, and I can focus most of my effort on managing my denotation.
Yes. “the recipients to be highly connotation-sensitive …anything important riding on the impression …agonize… don’t do it because I prefer it that way”.
Yes, a very unpleasant situation. Wouldn’t you also consider it a horror to have to endure on a routine basis?
The discussion in the article did not seem to be about rare important events, but routine email communications.
But instead of “connotation sensitive”, I’d say “connotation reactive” to better identify the situation. If someone is extremely sensitive to reading fine nuance in connotation, they will accurately read small variations on your connotations as small variations, not large ones. It’s the high gain to those small variations, making mountains out of molehills, that it becomes an issue. And those reactive people may or may not be “sensitive” at all, in the sense of being precisely accurate in their assessments. It’s when a small input on your part results in a large one on theirs that it becomes worthwhile to try to finely control your output.
Even when there isn’t a lot on the line, though not agonizing, it’s still unpleasant, to deal with highly reactive people. I’ve thought of them like lamps with an electrical short—you just never know when you’re going to get zapped.
They feel zapped too, when talking to me. I understand that. We’re electrically incompatible.
But I’d say that I have a broader and more effective range of operation than they do.
With perfect reading of a person’s connotations, highly reactive people could get along fine with themselves. They could turn their own speech connotations down to counteract the reactive gain. But without perfect reading, they are subject to large perturbations subject to the noise inherent in their own interpretations. You can’t make that work well, even assuming a homogeneous group of reactives. When tit for tat is employed, it’s way too have a large perturbation from noise spiral out of control into a feud.
Meanwhile, unreactives, whether sensitive or not, can have highly productive conversations by focusing their energies on managing their denotation.
It’s a feedback system. When the feedback gain exceeds noise sensitivity, you’re screwed.
For me, not so routine, but too frequent for my taste.
I’ve been trying to figure out how I can avoid that. I’d like to be a part of an organization of nonreactives who were getting things done. Seems like we don’t have the numbers, and the positions of power (see “important riding on the impression”), to have a lot of spaces of our own.
I’m not sure who exactly “the other half” is here, but I’ll note that this is a completely relatable experience to me. If I’m writing a message where I expect the recipients to be highly connotation-sensitive, in a context where I have anything important riding on the impression I create, I’ll agonize over getting exactly the right phrasing and punctuation for ideal signaling effect.
I certainly don’t do it because I prefer it that way, but I can’t decide how seriously to have other people take the signaling content of my messages, so if I suspect it may be serious, I’ll invest a commensurate level of attention.
On Less Wrong, thankfully, I generally don’t feel compelled to do this, and I can focus most of my effort on managing my denotation.
Yes. “the recipients to be highly connotation-sensitive …anything important riding on the impression …agonize… don’t do it because I prefer it that way”.
Yes, a very unpleasant situation. Wouldn’t you also consider it a horror to have to endure on a routine basis?
The discussion in the article did not seem to be about rare important events, but routine email communications.
But instead of “connotation sensitive”, I’d say “connotation reactive” to better identify the situation. If someone is extremely sensitive to reading fine nuance in connotation, they will accurately read small variations on your connotations as small variations, not large ones. It’s the high gain to those small variations, making mountains out of molehills, that it becomes an issue. And those reactive people may or may not be “sensitive” at all, in the sense of being precisely accurate in their assessments. It’s when a small input on your part results in a large one on theirs that it becomes worthwhile to try to finely control your output.
Even when there isn’t a lot on the line, though not agonizing, it’s still unpleasant, to deal with highly reactive people. I’ve thought of them like lamps with an electrical short—you just never know when you’re going to get zapped.
They feel zapped too, when talking to me. I understand that. We’re electrically incompatible.
But I’d say that I have a broader and more effective range of operation than they do.
With perfect reading of a person’s connotations, highly reactive people could get along fine with themselves. They could turn their own speech connotations down to counteract the reactive gain. But without perfect reading, they are subject to large perturbations subject to the noise inherent in their own interpretations. You can’t make that work well, even assuming a homogeneous group of reactives. When tit for tat is employed, it’s way too have a large perturbation from noise spiral out of control into a feud.
Meanwhile, unreactives, whether sensitive or not, can have highly productive conversations by focusing their energies on managing their denotation.
It’s a feedback system. When the feedback gain exceeds noise sensitivity, you’re screwed.
I do. Situations like that aren’t uncommon for me at all.
My condolences.
For me, not so routine, but too frequent for my taste.
I’ve been trying to figure out how I can avoid that. I’d like to be a part of an organization of nonreactives who were getting things done. Seems like we don’t have the numbers, and the positions of power (see “important riding on the impression”), to have a lot of spaces of our own.