In previous item I distinguished Tech Talk and Patron Talk, which turned out to be a useful variable.
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When we see absurd crap floating around the media and ask Do they really think we’re stupid? we’re asking a meaningless question. We don’t count. We aren’t in the loop. Step back. Politicians and media are talking to their Patrons, Larry Fink or Bezos or other politicians.
Talking to the Patrons is ancient. I found a historical clarifier on this point last year when I read a 1620 book on astronomy. Rosa Ursina is part Tech Talk and part Patron Talk.
When you have a basic grasp of the grammar and vocabulary, and the tech subject itself, you can read Tech Talk easily in any language.
Patron Talk is impossible to read unless you’re part of the target audience. It’s dense and poetic and full of inside jokes and sidelong references and metaphors, which would have been lost on the tech reader in 1620 and now are completely unintelligible.
Modern science publications make EXACTLY the same division. Part of the article is Tech Talk. Here’s how we did our experiments, here’s what we measured, here’s the control group. Part is Patron Talk, sycophantic poetry aimed at the granting agencies or foundations. We did this experiment to prove CLIMATE EMERGENCY, or to help vulnerable people identify as popcorn kernels, or to prove that Neanderthals are still with us today (hint hint hint TRUMP).
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Well, what would happen if we did get Tech Talk from politicians?
The answer surprised me. We do get Tech Talk from the government, but not in political speeches. We get it in court transcripts, easily available now on the web. Court transcripts are remarkably similar to scientific articles. They’re written in a precise jargon, easily understandable when you know the basics of the grammar and vocabulary. They give the methods and evidence and data used in the experiment, and they narrate the experiment itself along with the verdict or conclusion if any. Then they discuss the results from the viewpoint of the judge.
Legislatures also emit transcripts, but these are fake and meaningless because legislatures don’t perform experiments or make decisions about real problems. The list of bills and automatic “votes” is just another form of Patron Talk, telling Bezos or Buffett what he bought for his money this year. In other words the inverse is an invoice. Except in New Jersey where it’s the other way around.
Polistra's Mill 