Society · Protocols
Meaningpause
Postpone judging a claim until the speaker's meaning for its contested word is established
Definition
Mechanism
When a claim turns on a contested word, judgment of the claim waits. The listener restates, in other words, the meaning it takes the speaker to intend; the speaker confirms or corrects it; only then is the claim assessed. The listener's Interpretation is recorded with the context it was made in.
Invariants
- The claim is assessed only after the speaker has confirmed or corrected a restated meaning.
- The restatement does not use the contested word.
Risks
Failure modes
Labelsnap
the listener reacts to the word's usual associations before checking what the speaker means.
Endless pause
meaning is renegotiated repeatedly so that the claim is never assessed.
Relationships
Builds on
References
Mind
Deriving semantic meaning from raw signal
Nothing in this library builds on this pattern yet.
Reference