(Please pardon tyos and bad grammar, I ran out of time)

Thank you, I sincerely appreciate your reply.

Yours seems like a very reasonable interpretation.

> ...let me help you out by adding the [missing words] [I see] when I read the original poster statement

An issue I see, at least the way I view the world, is this: we have gone from 26 words to up to 186. Now, let's not obsess too much over these specific values, and their relative size to each other, particularly in this extremely simple (but not entirely risk free) example.

You have personally interpreted what was meant by another person. Now, your interpretation is probably correct (especially in this simple case), but are we sure?

Just a few ideas that come to mind of how communication can go wrong:

- what if the scenario one is dealing with is more complex &/or nuanced than the example

- what if neither of the two participants happen to have particularly strong skills in logic or communication (say, if the conversation is happening in a less technical forum)?

- maybe one or both of the participants have seriously flawed ideas within their personal axioms (at this point, I'd say this can almost be assumed to be universal in most cases, due to people living in information bubbles as well as interpreting information in a biased manner)

- what if the person doing the interpreting is not acting in a good faith matter to the same high degree you are (due to a lack of intent (up to and including outright lying), or a lack of ability)?

- maybe they do have all the necessary skills, and the proper intent, but they accidentally misread or misinterpret the writers words, and they arrive at an interpretation that is significantly different than than the one intended, and then perhaps the conversation continues with neither party realizing that the model (of a person) they are arguing with is fundamentally flawed to the degree that it is not even remotely representative of the meatspace version of the person.

- what if the conversation "doesn't go so well" (tempers flare, etc.), and maybe even gets into a downward spiral of sorts, such that the already sub-optimal communication skills are degraded even further (spite, revenge, etc)

- I could go on and on

I could also go on and write write an even longer list of all the different consequences that might result from an interaction, particularly when the pitfalls above are blended into various unique combinations.

And then when the interaction is done, each party leaves with a slightly modified internal model of what members of <Tribe X> "are", or "believe", or what the "facts" are about a particular topic. And finally, these two people eventually wrap it up and go out into the world, carrying in their mind even more flawed models of reality than they started with, and repeat the process over and over.

Meanwhile, there are often spectators involved in these conversations, who are in turn having their internal models of the participant's respective "tribes" modified by the events of the conversation. Let's take a scenario: say a Conservative and a Liberal are arguing, and let's say one of the participants is a bit of an asshole (take me for example) - now, in addition to the above pitfalls, all observers minds have been "infected" by the events they witness in this conversation, in particular in this case that the Conservative fellow was "a bit of a jerk". Can you then blame them for letting the idea form in their mind that Conservatives are jerks? After all, they just finished watching one in action! And it's likely not the first time time they've seen that sort of thing.

I could easily fill several pages with enumerations of all the different other dimensions of reality (some of which are at least as important as what I've written here) that get layered on top to eventually construct this complex, multi-dimensional "thing" that we refer to as "reality" / "the world", "life" - but I imagine you et the gist of what I'm saying.

So, that's a short summary of my take on that.

One last minor complaint before I wrap up. I seem to notice a pattern of lots of people behaving as if they are extremely unhappy about the general state of affairs, but when it comes around to discussing ideas about how this situation can be improved, the general consensus recommendation that is shared almost universally across all tribes, is that the underlying problem is: the other tribe. If "they" would "just" do <x>, or stop doing <y>, we'd have this whole thing strightened out by late next week.

I lied - one more complaint. HN is full of very smart people, who are generally very logical, right minded, and fair. I am not the cream of the crop around these parts, of that I have no doubt. And yet, what I am endeavoring to do, is to try to find a way to stop so many people from fighting, put down their weapons, and come together around the table with the sincere intent to start having some serious, productive discussions about where we go from here, and whether we can find a way to achieve the vision of the world that we all(!) share in our hearts.

All people are good. This is not to say that all people are equally good, and sometimes that goodness is buried under so much emotional scar tissue and anger that it seems impossible to believe that anything of worth lies inside. But it is there, and it can be found if you look hard enough. But first, you have to be willing to look. How many people are willing to look I wonder. Oh sure, everyone sincerely believes they are willing, but I think we both know how rare it is to find a person whose theoretical morals perfectly align with their behavior.

I know what I believe, and I believe it is good. I do my best to put these ideas on paper, in hope that I might one day find even one person who believes the same things I do, and then perhaps instead of one person trying to make the world a better place, then we have two. A team, of sorts. Maybe there are others out there who think like this, doing the same thing I am, but in their own unique way. But sometimes a battle is too big for one person, or even ten. Maybe the problem is so large that it needs lots of people. And then maybe sometimes you have special problem, one that is so big that even lots of people isn't enough. No, for those problems, the only solution is everyone. Everyone, all on the same team (more or less), all pushing the ball in the same direction. Instead of tearing each other down, build each other up. I'm not a student of history, but as far as I know I don't think this approach has ever been tried before. In fact, one might argue that what we've tried so far largely consists of the polar opposite of that. So if we all agree that things are less than perfect, and nothing we've tried so far seems to work terribly well, what's the harm in trying something new? Or at least even try discussing the idea?

Oh right, my complaint. I am trying my hardest to do what seems (after several years of pondering the situation we find ourselves in) right. I am trying to suggest some new-ish ideas that might have some utility. But then when I come back to the page, hoping to finally find someone who may see the world through a similar lens to mine, it is not uncommon to find several downvotes instead, and it kind of hurts a bit to be honest. Not all that long ago, my reaction would be anger, and thoughts of "revenge". But that was then, and this is now. I still have a long ways to go, but that's fine. "All things come to those who wait" as they say. But in the meantime, it would be real nice if some day I could get even a small sign from one person, that the path I'm on is not wrong. But if not, so be it, I will contiinue down this path until I come up with a better idea on my own.

Sorry for talking your ear off, it is one of my many bad character traits. Consider yourself lucky that you only had to sit through the Coles Notes version.

Before I sign sign off, I would like to leave links to two articles that I found influential. The first I suspect you will have seen before, and then second is a one hour lecture by Ram Dass, one of the greatest men to ever walk among us, imho.

I CAN TOLERATE ANYTHING EXCEPT THE OUTGROUP

https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...

In the Face of Chaos - Ram Dass Full Lecture 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NR6AM5oKk

(2020 - 1994 = 26 years ago - how time flies. I wonder if things would look different around here if more people aspired to be like him, rather than our current popular role models. It might be a lot of fun to find out for ourselves, if we'd be willing to try.)