Awesome quote--what do you guys think?

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I saw the following at (ironically) a presentation at work:

"Abstraction is saying something so generally that you're not really saying anything at all."

As a completely concrete-minded person, I thought this was one of the most triumphant things I've ever heard...ha ha

That is exactly what I think about abstract ideas.

Quite interesting. And accurate.

Preferred method of communication by politicians all over the world since antiquity!
I'm glad that issue itself was made tangible by a quote.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Random Discussion]

Well... in my own language I'm very good at expressing myself and have good linguistic insight when it comes to my language. Therefore I was often able at school to talk ''abstractly'' about something I didn't study, saying basically nothing, creating an A. Maybe a lot of people use this as a strategy. Abstract ideas, can't imagine those.

I thought that 'abstract vs. concrete' was fairly relevant to autism.

***EDIT: Oh...just saw that you are a moderator, so no argument. Sorry

That's a very valid comment and you are well within your rights to make that comment.

The term "concrete-minded" is, itself, an abstraction.

In that case, my neurons quite concretely and factually physically align themselves in such a way that I perceive things in a direct manner. This is probably full of abstraction, too, but I suppose there has to be a little to succeed at communicating at all

Indeed, it would be quite difficult to communicate without any verbs at all, not to mention many other terms.

There are two forms of abstraction:

1. Clarification

Abstraction can be used to simplify and clarify an idea in a manner that is instantly understandable to the reader/listener. Blaise Pascal is often attributed with the quote (paraphrased here): I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time. It takes effort and skill to use abstraction to say more with less. If you can do that, you can be a great communicator.

2. B.S.

It is not hard to tell when someone is using abstraction to avoid discussing details. Being able to spot B.S. makes you a great listener. I tend to filter communications for facts/information and ignore the rest. It's just the way I am wired. If there isn't any information being conveyed or I am confused by the communication, then I receive it as B.S.

Favorite words: Leadership, diversity...all that 'staff orientation' stuff

Ironically, the quoted statement is a generalized statement about abstraction.

Literally speaking, language is not possible without abstraction.

Autistic people are actually measured as testing as high or higher on intelligence measures of abstract reasoning that do not require language.

It is areas of language that autistic individuals often have difficulties with in understanding some forms of figurative and abstract language.

Some generalized statements work some don't; depends on context, and who is involved in the conversation.

One man's generalized statement can mean nothing to one person, and make sense to the next person depending on whether or not there is a common reference point of understanding.

That is interesting, in that those that may have never experienced strong emotions do not have a similar reference to understand abstract terms of language that describe those emotions.

Even more interesting, is, if there is an emotion that some equate with a feeling of connectivity to what they refer to as a higher power, God, etc., for all practical intents and purposes if one is not capable of feeling that emotion there may be no "feeling" of a higher power, God, etc., for that person. Without the common reference of feeling/emotion the abstraction that describes it is not nearly as meaningful.

There are those that have qualities of leadership, that is recognized and felt by others instinctively through emotion. Not all can easily recognize, feel it, or respect it. But many can, depending on similar references in feelings and experience per the abstract term leadership.

There are those that feel beauty in nature, and those that can't. The abstract term of beauty can mean much more to one that feels it.

Abstract terms and statements, are among the most powerful terms and statements in language, because they influence human emotion/attitude and the decision making process.

Not as powerful for some, because of innate and environmental influence.

And finally, if there were such a thing as a completely concrete minded person, they would be incapable of experiencing either the emotion of triumphant, or the abstract term triumphant that describes that emotion. However, it appears that you did not mean that as a literal statement.

I've yet to notice any poster on this website consistently express themself in concrete terms; if one is going to express ideas or feelings, it's almost impossible to do in written language. Some come pretty close, but ideology, irritibility or anger usually rises to the surface in eventual abstract terms.

It appears that there is more difficulty in understanding it than expressing it.

Your use of abstract language in describing a criticism of abstraction was part of what made your post interesting to me, and likely part of what made it interesting to those that could identify emotionally with your response. Vanilla use of abstract language like "comments?" or "thoughts?", would not likely have gained as much abstract emotional response as your more emotion evoking response.

I had a boss (a long time ago) that said he interfaced with a colleague instead of met with them or talked to them, in an employee meeting; that generated quite a response among the more social/emotional inclined employees, in sarcastic whispers. I think I was the only one that wasn't particularly amused or surprised by his concrete use of language to describe social interaction.

He reduced human interaction to machine communication in that meeting; an influence of the computer age, and a taboo for some, that those like Steve Jobs overcame with "social interfaces" provided by the Graphic user interface and anthropomorphic design of software and equipment. And perfected by the perpetual online school yearbook by Mark Zuckerberg.

Words alone, and black and screens would have never provided the hook, to change the way the social world communicated. It was like breathing life into Frankenstein. Or perhaps the first signs of the coming zombie apocalypse.

Here is a picture of an individual that some like to take shots at over his lack of facial expression and seemingly shallow emotion, however he definitely has triumphed over the social world, by providing an elaborate machine based social interface, that not many can refuse.

Heh, no worries - although having seen the direction the thread is now going I've moved it back to General Autism Discussion.

Apologies - originally this thread appeared to be more about the quote itself.

I'm not quite following you. From what I can understand (please correct me if I interpret this wrong ), you explained after this point that a certain 'humanness' was necessary for the age of electronic social communication to truly emerge as a part of society. But why did this boss want to interface rather than talk in the first place? Was it because he himself was not much of a face-to-face person?