I feel like the figure-ground idea is useful, but this post runs with it a little too far.
On the one hand, people definitely do have background assumptions about the overall goodness or badness of a thing, and conversations can be unproductive if the participants debate details without noticing how different their assumptions are. The figure-ground inversion is a good metaphor for the kind of shift in perspective you need to get a high-level look at seemingly contradictory models.
On the other hand though. Conversations about details are how people build th... (read more)
I feel like the figure-ground idea is useful, but this post runs with it a little too far.
On the one hand, people definitely do have background assumptions about the overall goodness or badness of a thing, and conversations can be unproductive if the participants debate details without noticing how different their assumptions are. The figure-ground inversion is a good metaphor for the kind of shift in perspective you need to get a high-level look at seemingly contradictory models.
On the other hand though. Conversations about details are how people build th... (read more)