full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Daniel H. Cohen: For argument's sake

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So, how can we find ways to make aertmnugs yelid something ptosiive? What we need is new exit strategies for arguments. But we're not going to have new exit strategies for arguments until we have new entry approaches to arguments. We need to think of new kinds of arguments. In order to do that, well — I don't know how to do that. That's the bad news. The argument-as-war metaphor is just ... it's a mtsneor. It's just taken up htabtaoiin in our mind, and there's no magic bullet that's going to kill it. There's no magic wand that's going to make it disappear. I don't have an answer.

But I have some suggestions. Here's my suggestion: If we want to think of new kinds of arguments, what we need to do is think of new kinds of arguers.

Open Cloze


So, how can we find ways to make _________ _____ something ________? What we need is new exit strategies for arguments. But we're not going to have new exit strategies for arguments until we have new entry approaches to arguments. We need to think of new kinds of arguments. In order to do that, well — I don't know how to do that. That's the bad news. The argument-as-war metaphor is just ... it's a _______. It's just taken up __________ in our mind, and there's no magic bullet that's going to kill it. There's no magic wand that's going to make it disappear. I don't have an answer.

But I have some suggestions. Here's my suggestion: If we want to think of new kinds of arguments, what we need to do is think of new kinds of arguers.

Solution


  1. positive
  2. habitation
  3. monster
  4. arguments
  5. yield

Original Text


So, how can we find ways to make arguments yield something positive? What we need is new exit strategies for arguments. But we're not going to have new exit strategies for arguments until we have new entry approaches to arguments. We need to think of new kinds of arguments. In order to do that, well — I don't know how to do that. That's the bad news. The argument-as-war metaphor is just ... it's a monster. It's just taken up habitation in our mind, and there's no magic bullet that's going to kill it. There's no magic wand that's going to make it disappear. I don't have an answer.

But I have some suggestions. Here's my suggestion: If we want to think of new kinds of arguments, what we need to do is think of new kinds of arguers.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
good arguers 2
cognitive gain 2
war metaphor 2
exit strategies 2


Important Words


  1. answer
  2. approaches
  3. arguers
  4. arguments
  5. bad
  6. bullet
  7. disappear
  8. entry
  9. exit
  10. find
  11. habitation
  12. kill
  13. kinds
  14. magic
  15. metaphor
  16. mind
  17. monster
  18. news
  19. order
  20. positive
  21. strategies
  22. suggestions
  23. wand
  24. ways
  25. yield