I attended the Live the Universe and Everything symposium. These are notes from one of the panels. This presentation is about Scott Card Speaker for the dead, a case study. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

• Orson Scott card and Robert Jordan are Masters in creating a culture in the books.
• When you look at a map you can see the separation of Israel and Egypt by how green the landscape is in Israel. Israelites have the concept that they have command over the land and so their efforts are different. They feel a blossoming like a rose. Egyptians feel that they are subjected to nature and so efforts are not as intense about making it a greener landscape.
• In Speaker of the dead culture is taught
• Culture is taught from parent to child.
• Culture compels you to do what is right. An example of this is that when you are driving at 3 AM in the morning do you still stop at a stoplight? China and Brazil are not as inclined to stop at a light when people are not around.
• Good and bad is a cultural construct. For example in the United States citizens interpret dinner between 5 to 7. We expect to be out of the restaurant in about an hour. In France, dinner starts at nine. And it takes a three hours to eat. The French interpret dinner as a social time.
• We each assume that everyone thinks like us.
• The ERM I versus ETI C: The EM I see perspective refers to the result of the native interpretation. The EL IT I see perspective is the observation of culture.
• When you go to a new culture you need to get a new set of glasses else you will get a cultural shock.
• Many cultures show slow messages. Slow messages is open to interpretation, often more than one interpretation. An example might be while driving home the wife asked the husband are you hungry. The husband says no and continues driving home. When they get home the wife is mad. She was given a subtle hint of asking the question that she wanted dinner.
• Americans communicate too fast messages as clear and unambiguous. Understanding a slow message is like getting a Joe or grasping an illusion or understanding of point..
• In many languages, they have the informal you in the formal you. Be careful not to use the informal you or someone you do not know.
• In communication, there is the high versus the low context. How much info do you need to function in a given cultural context? A lot or very little?
• Verbal or nonverbal. Body language is a role of silent language. In France, you don’t smile at someone because they may interpret that as you make a pass at them.
• Individualism or collect and listen:
• identity is rooted in the system, the group, the try. In Japan the group unit is important. Because the whole family had to be involved in hosting the rice when it was ready.
• In the United States, it was colonized by people who came to the country to start their own life. They can only rely upon themselves. That influences the mindset of the country.
• Internal versus outer direction describes how people relate to the environment around them. It inserts the basic questions. Can you control the environment is the environment controlling you.
• Well-written novels or the vivid case studies of the human experience. They can tell the variety and complexity of life. He detailed specific, and susceptible to a thick understanding.
• Create a vicarious learning experience.
• Before you go to a different country, study the culture.
• Robert Jordan was a master of cultures. He was asked how to describe his time series. He said quote “I’ve written a few million words so far, and you want me to summarize the six words? Well here goes. Cultures clash world’s change cope. I know I only gave five but I hate to waste words.”