ourselves in a boundless sea from which
there is no getting out ever
this is navigating without compass stars
wars or rather in which we must need
either pass from bank to bank or run
aground or sail forever lost his eyes
are weary his beard is gray and long
wrinkles on his cheeks and his frowns
very deep into his genius forehead the
year is 16 32 and the Tuscan Sun looms
over the maroon rooftops of Florence
purple herons lightly whistle in a cold
summer breeze at his home in bellows
guardo which roughly translates to a
nice view all is peace and quiet the old
man will never rest admit it
there was no blood no slashing clinging
swords no heron disrupted the herons
song but nobody expects the Spanish
Inquisition Galileo Galilei didn’t he
wasn’t just a great mathematician he was
a brilliant philosopher but for most he
was a master in Rattray galileo didn’t
convince his fellow scientists using
scientific proof evidence or geometry he
convinced him with fallacies rhetorical
figures and poetic language rhetoric
Trump’s science Galileo had to use
rhetoric with the church’s barrel
pointing at his back never lowering it
shot Galileo had to convince science had
to convince and it still does some
battles cannot be won with arguments
and the USA more than 40% still believes
in creationism in the Netherlands
mothers and fathers and the Bible Belt
refused to vaccinate their innocent boys
and girls against painful diseases in
Chechnya we witness called Gestapo
agents brutally arresting gay lovers
because their love is unnatural if you
want this to change we don’t need more
proof
we need more eloquence but Galileo was
speaking for a whole nation and the u.s.
the Netherlands Chechnya that’s politics
religion rhetoric to sway the mosques
and yes there will be setbacks times and
places in which the loudest
idiot gets his way but eventually in the
end reason will stand and facts persuade
in science we analyze conclude and
discuss we’ve been through the
Enlightenment we’ve read they got in
business money will speak you all know
this and you’ve been trained for this
shareholders will hold you accountable
pitches competitions and business plans
you will be roasted in questioned and
the con man will fall if he has no point
just blabbering around will debunk his
laws because at the right time at the
right place when it really matters words
can’t fool you they can’t trick you or
can they haven’t you learned anything
since Galileo well the year is 1953 and
revolution in biology is fine one of the
biggest is centuries this is the dawn of
the genetic era a revolution so profound
that every school kid will learn about
it DNA the is liquid rhetoric and in the
midst of this turmoil are too comforting
man with
eeeh James Watson and Francis Crick but
then all alone in the US a scientific
giant is working on the model and have
Kings College they’re doing the same
thing and all of the feel entitled to
them what’s in aquick should be doing
something else
it just isn’t their project it isn’t
their turf
so the two-man charge the 25th of April
1953 three articles are published about
ela – long articles technical souls text
heavy on logic and experiment light on
rhetoric your typical scientific
publication and one short article which
would change the world in just 900 words
one sketchy figure no formulas they
implicitly appeal to the beauty of their
model the double helix structure so
pretty you just had to exist Watson said
there’s one sentence with one sentence
they paved the way for the replication
of DNA almost casually off the cuff as
if you explained life in one sentence oh
and by the way it hasn’t escaped our
notice that the specific pairing we have
postulated immediately suggests a
possible copying mechanism for the
genetic material
now that’s rhetoric that’s why Watson
and Crick own the double helix and while
the other two are history their rhetoric
persuaded not their scientific proof and
the entire academic world fell for it
you fell for it just as you fell for our
rhetoric earlier this evening when we
persuaded you you would not be convinced
by conman by simple short sentences
shareholders will hold you accountable
bitches competitions at business players
you will be roasted in questioned a
barrage of simple short sentences each
with a same length and the rhythm by
kept pushing forward so your critical
minds had not a second to intervene but
it’s not your fault though it’s not your
fault that you fall in the rhetorical
pit screwed or it is Doug blame our
brains instead for an example as an
example let’s take the following
mathematical problem think quickly
because you only get two seconds to
solve it a bat and a ball cost one point
10 euros the bat costs one euro more
than the ball how much does the ball
cost the correct answer is five cents of
course most of you will have thought 10
cents and the other smart half was
thinking it certainly isn’t 10 cents but
don’t be fooled you were all thinking of
10 cents and that’s exactly the point
this is how it works the human mind and
cognition are prone to two systems which
psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes
as the automatic system one and the
effortful system to system one monitors
everything constantly and relies on its
emotions system 2 however is rational
and only intervenes when system 1 cannot
cope let’s make this more visual more
concrete let’s say you’re governed by
Odie and Garfield Odie is a hyperactive
and amazingly stupid dog which means
that he’s continuously active making all
decisions for us all the time without
thinking relying entirely on his
emotions and intuition his favorite
sport is jumping to conclusions Garfield
however is smart intelligent rational
he is a couch potato his but lazy
doesn’t like to work
he only intervenes when OD gets stuck
for example with a difficult
multiplication or with deep
philosophical questions and even when
Garfield intervenes he will make his
intervention as efficient and effortless
as he can
let’s take the bat on the ball problem
from earlier this is how you were misled
the moment we hear the following
mathematical problem garfield gets up
ready to think reluctantly but he’s
ready though but the moment the question
is asked Odie immediately suggests $0.10
even before Garfield starts to think
Garfield
he is Odie suggestion immediately stops
thinking and says ok that’s a that’s
alright that will do and you all thought
of 10 cents and we don’t even notice
that this is happening because Garfield
the rational system – thinks he’s in
control so the Enlightenment and the guy
told is that rationality is in control
but it seems it’s rarely ever is no it
isn’t and of course rat took place with
us we’re biased emotional and there’s
nothing we can do about it just we’re
totally absolutely and that’s the
case for both men and women with or
without I degrees or big paychecks well
what if I could persuade them what if I
could persuade an audience by the way I
structure my text good language itself
persuade system one could I fool these
guys well by the way my speech sounds I
suppose it’s good but I can’t really
think of an example then for the moment
let’s take a row the Roman orator who
humiliated and defeated conspirator
Catalina in front of a fully
packed sand coos squirt on the booty
Catalina potentia knows from duet and
foolish tattoos no saluted cut fin SSS
frenetic tabata doc MILNET a Nocturne
proceeding Pilate nil or miss Virgilia
nil Teemo Papa Lee Neal congas boo novo
Manila community Somoza been dissing
Otto’s locos near Louisville to scream
around potato a conciliar non-scientist
constrict ‘m young more magnums can’t
attend a Econolodge onem2m non vedas
quit próxima cut super yo an optical
zoom beef where his claws Kabakov a
discrete Kinsella capris gram no streak
Narada with rise o tempura almost I feel
what kick girl tries to say even if I
don’t understand these arguments Katrina
is guilty of treason and that’s all that
matters
this rhythm is so good sister one likes
it that much that it must be true and
that’s how eloquence persuades and those
of you who’ve studied Latin will know
this text you’ve analyzed it but we are
never shown how to grasp the full
strength of it schoolteachers show us
how to rationalize analyze and compute
but the fact is we usually don’t
rationalize analyze or compute we just
respond intuitively so what good is
education if it doesn’t direct our
attention towards rhetorical strategies
and our own cognitive biases we need to
teach rhetoric again our children must
learn how to speak how to persuade how
to acknowledge the fact that rhetoric
Trump’s contents because forewarned is
forearmed
because here’s artifact for you
if you want to convince content does not
matter it’s not what you say but how you
say and that’s a fact and an easy one
true but instead of feeling depressed
about it we should embrace it we are
neither rational nor analytic but
emotional and lazy use it the only way
you’ll ever sell a good point a moral a
virtuous one is exactly the same way
it’s how a vicious one if we want to
prevail if you want to convince we have
to learn how to speak and it starts now
the good ideas are up to you
you pick your Crusades we are your arms dealer choice here are the bullets