Emotion canceling Information science presents signal and noise as a fundamental dichotomy, presuming that these can ultimately be separated cleanly. This leads to a view that language in its multivalence should ideally be reduced to unambiguous code that is pure signal and no noise, and that technology should aim for that goal of abolishing the need for interpretation in favor of pure, direct transmission that operates like a reflex, so that talking to someone would be like pushing their buttons and pulling their strings. The degree to which communication might convey a range of feelings is the degree to which it fails; it should be purified into a purely “neutral” tone of voice, like a Tao Lin novel.
Great essay — very thoughtful and original. Thank you for writing this! One advantage to reading Shax in one of those big anthologies is that they usually footnote the references and explain the jokes. But I very much like the more organic approach you’re taking. And humor dates so quickly: I’ve been having my kids watch movies from when I was their age and it’s amazing how often I have to explain the jokes. These are 20-30 year old jokes. So 400+ year old jokes, that’s just orders of magnitude! :)
my shining moment on the stage was as Leontes in A Winter’s Tale, in a tense scene on the stage at Winedale with a Paulina who I was in a complicated off stage relationship with - me, forgetting the lines but knowing Ms Paulina needed to stop berating my choices in life and exit the scene, and repeated ‘take thee hence’s not doing the trick - i yell for her to “take thee fucking hence!”, sending our classes’ grad assistant madly through the script trying to find that line. Castmates worried I’d be in trouble, but our Professor said nothing.. these were the emotions we were after, apparently.
So what I’m hearing is that the response to emotion-cancelling voice AI is to throw a Mercutio at it? Will keep in mind for future customer service issues.
And good luck with the plan! I’ve been doing the same with Agatha Christie, perhaps the exact opposite of shakespeare’s observational style, but I’ve hit a wall on finding her less popular titles / paying ~$7 for a crap used paperback worth a solid dollar. Perhaps I’ll open my Riverside for the first time in 24 years instead
Great essay — very thoughtful and original. Thank you for writing this! One advantage to reading Shax in one of those big anthologies is that they usually footnote the references and explain the jokes. But I very much like the more organic approach you’re taking. And humor dates so quickly: I’ve been having my kids watch movies from when I was their age and it’s amazing how often I have to explain the jokes. These are 20-30 year old jokes. So 400+ year old jokes, that’s just orders of magnitude! :)
my shining moment on the stage was as Leontes in A Winter’s Tale, in a tense scene on the stage at Winedale with a Paulina who I was in a complicated off stage relationship with - me, forgetting the lines but knowing Ms Paulina needed to stop berating my choices in life and exit the scene, and repeated ‘take thee hence’s not doing the trick - i yell for her to “take thee fucking hence!”, sending our classes’ grad assistant madly through the script trying to find that line. Castmates worried I’d be in trouble, but our Professor said nothing.. these were the emotions we were after, apparently.
Loved this one even more than usual. Thanks
So what I’m hearing is that the response to emotion-cancelling voice AI is to throw a Mercutio at it? Will keep in mind for future customer service issues.
And good luck with the plan! I’ve been doing the same with Agatha Christie, perhaps the exact opposite of shakespeare’s observational style, but I’ve hit a wall on finding her less popular titles / paying ~$7 for a crap used paperback worth a solid dollar. Perhaps I’ll open my Riverside for the first time in 24 years instead