Aristotle named the forces. We measure them.
Writing a sentence is almost free now. Knowing what it will do to a particular person is not. The instrument reads both ends: the words on the page, and the person who receives them.
Why an instrument
Labels were the ceiling.
Aristotle named ethos, pathos, logos and kairos. Two thousand years later, Robert Cialdini named six principles of influence. Both are labels. A label tells you a lever is present; it cannot tell you how hard it presses, on whom, or when. Fields stall at the label stage until an instrument arrives: alchemy became chemistry with the balance scale, and astrology became astronomy with the telescope.
The instrument, rung by rung
From the words on the page to one person.
- SignalThe message, in order: text by position, audio by time, video by frame.
- Rhetorical MassHow much was said: claims, entities, structure, fallacies. The same text always gives the same mass.
- Persuasive VelocityHow well it was said, on eight channels, each broken into parts that carry a score and its reasons.
- Momentum and forceWhat moved. Force is what it takes to change the course of a conversation.
- The personaWho is listening: who they are, what moves them, their state of mind, their setting.
- Persuasive ResonanceWhat it did. Four chances, one person, one message, one moment.
Persuasive Velocity
Eight channels.
How well something was said, read on eight channels, each broken into parts that carry a score and its reasons. Every term is defined on persuasion.wiki.
Ethos
Do I believe the source?
Pathos
Does it reach me through feeling?
Logos
Do the steps connect?
Kairos
Is this the right moment, at every scale?
Style
How vividly is it put?
Clarity
Does it feel easy to grasp?
Focus
Does it capture and hold attention?
Awareness
Do I see the move as a move? The channel Pulp cares about most.
What sets it apart
Three ideas the instrument rests on.
Persuasive Resonance
One person, one message, one moment, and four chances that always add up to one. They take it in and it holds up. They take it in and it doesn't. They take it in and reserve judgment. Or it never reaches them. In 2019, valid and invalid were buttons people pressed on each other's arguments. Now they are a measurement.
Watch it in the demoStateful Personas
A persona that remembers. Who is listening carries from one message to the next: who they are, what moves them, their state of mind and their setting.
Configure one in the interactive demoObjective-based Scoring
Every score is computed against a goal someone stated, so a number always answers a question: better at what, and for whom. That is what makes it comparable, auditable and fair to argue with.
The loop that learns
A conversation is a graph.
Replies, support and attack, with momentum flowing along the edges. Pulp is building a graph neural network that lives on that structure, compares its readings with what actually happened, and corrects itself. The firms that measure outcomes have no mechanism. The firms that generate language have no measurement. Pulp is building the loop between them, and the layer that ties every score to its reasons.
Want your words measured?
Send a draft, a transcript or a thread. We'll walk you through every rung.