Steven Pinker

When the little boy said the emperor was naked, he wasn't telling anyone they didn't,

anything they didn't already know.

But he was changing their knowledge because when he blurted it out in public, now everyone knew that everyone else knew that everyone else knew.

So he converted private knowledge to common knowledge.

So first of all, that made a difference.

That was the climax of the story.

What it is, it changed their relationship with the emperor from deference to ridicule and scorn.

So a relationship of difference.

To the tailor.

Well, but to the emperor too.

Yes, but at that moment in public, it was the emperor who suffered all of the embarrassment.

Especially in the Danny Kaye version of the story, where it was met with ridicule and scorn in the lyrics to the song.

Okay.

And deference is a matter of common knowledge.

You defer to someone because you know they'll stand their ground.

Why do they stand their ground?

Because they know that you'll defer to them.

And how do they know that?

Well, because you know that they know that they'll stand their ground ad infinitum.

And what about the mutuality of respect?