Anthropomorphism in Technical Presentations
By Jason | October 5, 2009 at 10:19 AM | Comment
Attributing Human Voice, Behavior and Motivation to Inanimate Constructs
Both scientific and legal training stress the importance of avoiding anthropomorphism. We are taught to study and apply the laws of science and society based on facts and logic; to remove our own personal bias from observation and communication. However, that very science, through the study of linguistics, for example, teaches us that human beings think, speak and experience the world through the lens of our own, rather personal, sense of anthropomorphism. In other words, people experience the world through human hands, human eyes and human ears all coupled to a human brain filled with human emotions. We are hard-wired to apply human emotion and reason to all we see and hear.
When it comes to trial presentation, patent lawyers (many with technical training prior to their entry into the law) and technical experts are at a distinct disadvantage. They live by the cold, harsh light of the scientific method, eschewing anthropomorphism in their work. There is nothing inherently wrong with the scientific method. However, to point out the obvious, jurors in technical cases are not typically scientists or technologists. Indeed, any scientifically trained juror is likely to be excluded based on that very training.
Now that we are faced with a jury of non-scientists and the difficult task of teaching technical subject matter to them, we must switch off the cold light of science, light a warm fire and settle in to tell a story.
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