This is the final post about of the four types of conversation. I’m asking how we experience each type online. Here is what I wrote about generative dialogue, four Wednesdays ago:
Generative dialogue is where we hear not just ourselves and others but the whole system. We see ourselves within the whole; the role we play for good or ill. This can be highly motivating when people experience it together. This type of conversation can generate something new, an insight that no one person brought with them to the conversation. Everyone leaves with insights that are completely new.
As I suggested earlier, science can be a conversation between the scientist and whatever they study. Scientists make breakthroughs by paying attention to what is there. It is not about number crunching but rather insight through careful observation. Statistical analysis brings new information to light; it does not on its own explain its significance.
What is ‘the whole system’? Breakthroughs happen where scientists include something not previously relevant in their thinking. This is where any model can be weak. Have we included every relevant thing? The danger of a completely online world is that we assume the online world is all there is.
Is generative conversation impossible online?
We need to be cautious. Is it possible to discover something new through conversation online? Generative conversation is seeing something not from someone else’s perspective so much as an entirely new perspective. As such it is a subjective experience. It is not persuasion by a superior argument because no-one is aware of the argument before the discovery.
The danger of working online is we forget the world we operate in is artificial. Ultimately, our life online is not real. It is an aid to living a full life in the world; it is not in itself real. One thing our machines cannot do for us is to experience the world on our behalf.
We can choose to become more machine-like and refuse to allow the world to be seen in a different way. Our machines cannot choose to discover something new. New ideas can be communicated and debated online but they cannot be experienced.
The most significant contribution our technology makes is the opportunities for conversations between people all over the world. Maybe we can experience new discoveries together. I would be interested to hear any stories where this might have happened. Over to you!
