II. Why no-one understands you?
By: The Inner Monologue
Tags: Philosophy Of Science, Psychology, Philosophy Of Mind, Psychic, Psychedelics

Isn’t it a familiar feeling when you are trying to pour your heart out, and you realise that the person listening to you hardly understands what you are trying to convey. Welcome to the club! This is not because the other person is always a snob but sometimes is a limitation of ways in which we can communicate.

To find the reasons let’s look back through thousands of years of evolution, where there was one biological objective for every species: Survival of the fittest. Every species was looking for ways to survive on planet earth with the least probability of getting killed in the early period of their lifespans. We as humans have now topped the list with the least infant mortality rate across all species.

Humans don’t change, they Adapt.

But this advancement had its shortcomings. To create a more secure environment, we needed predictability. A scenario that cannot be modelled pose risks which leave humans restless. Thus started the strife to control everything and everyone around us. For this to succeed, it was essential for everyone to think alike; otherwise, even the basic concepts like language will not make sense. If words in our vocabulary don’t paint the same picture for everyone consuming it, it would be harder to pass on the underlying context of the message. We have finally achieved a collaborative vocabulary, but it is still very primitive where only clear and straightforward thoughts can be easily translated into words which are guaranteed of not being misunderstood on the other end.

Humans have developed institutions and passed on knowledge to accumulate it through the generations. This helps us advance our comprehension and paint a mutual understanding of a subject among individuals. Most of us revolve around that median of common knowledge on most topics. We teach our children to think alike and not apart. This is not a capitalist conspiracy but our limitation at processing chaos. We want things streamlined.

We might have exceptional powers to recognise patterns, but we fail terribly trying to process multiple things in real-time. We assume predictability of every situation as an integral characteristic of the scenario, but it is not. We are trained to think in that specific way for the betterment of society as a whole. Just think of how you learned to drive. You know the rules and would not dare to jump them unless deemed extremely safe. Now think of driving on a road where all people don’t think alike, and every signal has a different meaning for different people. It puts you and every life on that road in danger. All these laws and rights in place are just to make everyone behaves in the restricted structure of civilisation. Thus to achieve the golden objective posed by evolution as a species, we have adapted to a more regulated and menial life as an individual.

Cave to Café

We don’t necessarily struggle for survival every day of our lives. We don’t have to gather our band every morning to hunt down our dinner. Instead, on the contrary, we make plans for our far future where we have assumed that survival is guaranteed. In achieving this monumental feat, our species had to give up some of the evolutionary advantages we gained throughout our journey. Earlier, even a small community was filled with exceptional creative talent and qualities ranging from hunting to building to managing complex social structures. That culture promoted eccentricity as the more different the people are the more complementary skills the group gains. But now we are just trying to create more clones of an urban discursive being where more similarity lends easier control.

We all have learned languages but never understood communication. Passing the right context of things through words is still a substantial contemporary human struggle, but we have now made peace with it. We now may have some technological advancement to help us communicate better, but transferring correct contexts every time to everyone is still a futuristic dream.

I believe that humans need 3 physical data points and 1 abstract dimension to perceive reality. For space reality around us its the X, Y and Z physical and the abstract dimension of time. For understanding the true meaning of a transferred context, we need the physical data of words, visual and movement and the intellectual aspect of perception. If any data is missing, our brain has evolved to fill it in with its imagination. The more accurately you can transfer them to someone, the more effectively you can transfer your context. Out of all these dimensions, one which we have not yet know how to control is perception.

Passing the unknown

Our first tools to pass context were stone carvings which were later replaced by written mediums. Any written medium is a one-dimensional source of context. The reader needs to fill in the other 2 dimensions (visuals and emotions) unless expressed very vividly by the writers. Now, when you look through your most loved authors, you might discover their high quality of explaining a situation or art of storytelling filled with colours and different perspective in time. They try to pack as much as possible and give you a glimpse of the other two dimensions through their writings.

Picture or music helps to convey the context in multiple dimensions. A photograph without the story or instrumental music still makes it one-dimensional. This was taken one step further when we started sharing videos. This is a 3-dimensional communication where we share the story, the visuals and movements/show emotions to fill the input of the consumer. In a few decades, talking directly to a hologram of your friend may become ordinary, a medium trying to pass all the possible physical details accurately.

Our quest for bridging the 4th-dimensional gap is still ongoing. It is particularly tricky as for humans, it is easier to pass physical data than conceptual ideas like emotions or perception. These abstract ideas become an integral part of our lives even though they are few of the most ancient stories passed on abridged through generations.

Thus bridging this gap is where the next evolution for our language lies and that’s also why you love memes. They try to connect to your perspective and fill in the most critical and rarely present abstract dimension. It would make no sense for someone unaware of the past storyline but will pass complex ideas for those who can connect.

All our communications are encrypted with the key of perception of the one generating it. You will connect with people who share that abstract dimension as much as possible. Just think of your virtual game partner or your favourite singer. You can connect with their words and context much better than your parents. The better you sync with those you talk, the easier it is to pass context unadulterated. This is why gossiping is so addictive and listening to a lecture force you to doze off.

New Age Languages

Technological advancement has shown new ways of passing our intentions precisely. All technical languages are just ways of telling the dumb machine to do as said. And they pretty much do that every time without question. These functional languages gave us the approach of an intertwined way of communication where we can go deeper into a function or class to understand its exact purpose. There is no precise way of starting, but instead, there are syntaxes to convey the compiler what it should do.

The context of every intent is available for the application, and there is hardly any miscommunication in a well written technical program. This provides a more advanced approach breaking limitations of linear time. I believe that even the recent success of Snapchat was because it mimicked real conversations rather than frozen talks without the context of the chat.

With time, newer opportunities and apps might emerge which would help us to fill this gap.