Perspective

[Durana-Kal]

Didja ever find yourself saying "What the HELL were they thinking?"

I'm pretty sure everyone has, a whole bunch more times than they would have liked, but it's not nearly so common to stop and actually THINK about that. What the hell WERE they thinking? They can tell you what they were thinking, and feeling, whenever they did what they did, but you'll never be able to fully understand it, because YOU'RE NOT THEM. (Thank god.) You don't see the world the way they do.

This is red, right? No question about it. Red letters on a gray page. But is it the same red as mine? Or another Mooser's, or that crazy guy on the street corner? We see the red, we recognize it as "red", but
it's impossible to know that my red is the same as yours. My red could be your blue, but we would never know. That's my point, really.

No two people are alike, it's a proven fact. So, then, no two people should feel alike. We all live in the same world, but everyone sees it differently. Anti-gay protesters, hippies, terrorists, Republicans, everyone has their reasons for doing what they do, but it all comes down to how the experience the effects of their actions.

You see the world in YOUR way, and so, anything is possible, really. If you believe you can fly, honestly and completely believe it, then you can, and no one can convince you otherwise, because you see yourself flying. They, on the other hand, see you stretched out on a bed and likely drooling. But what if THEY saw you flying, too? What if we DID all see the same red?
It's impossible to change how someone thinks, but if we could change how they FEEL...

If it were somehow possible to let everyone see from ONE perspective, and one alone, let everybody feel and see and hear and touch and taste the same way.... do you think the problems would cease?

Okay, I'm done now.


P.S. Please do not jump off a bridge in an attempt to fly after reading this. The power of perspective can't outmatch the power of physics.

[Vile]

I like and agree with this thread. Unfortunatly, I haven't the time nor the money to continue the thought.

[exemplary citizen]

As far as I'm concerned, feeling <i>is</i> thinking. It's not some magical process that lives in the chest cavity, detatched from the brain. They're one and the same.

Even theoretically, though, I think it's a crap idea to try to make people think/feel the same way to reduce conflict. For one, because it smacks of the kind of thing most organized religions and their lobbyists would <i>love</i> to see happen (favoring their side, naturally), and for two... well, where the hell's the fun in that? I'd rather have to deal with a bunch of people being dicks to me because we don't see things from the same perspective than be part of some creepy hive-mind that just sort of blandly exists without questioning.

[SLUM WIZZARD]

This reminds me of some book I had to read this year. "The Giver" I think. Everony saw everything the same, did everything the same, and basically had that "hive mind" metality Ami just mentioned.

It was pretty cool. (The book, not the mentality. That "everyone the same" idea is pretty...not cool.)

[implode]

yeah. um. this is a nice thread. i never thought to make a thread about this, because i thought it was generally common knowledge and there isn't too much room for expansion... but. you know. it's nice to know you all feel this way.

If it were somehow possible to let everyone see from ONE perspective, and one alone, let everybody feel and see and hear and touch and taste the same way.... do you think the problems would cease? no. i think we'd all have the same problems and have no goddamned idea how to solve them. if we all saw things through the same perspective, we'd idle and die.

[MST3Kakalina]

If it were somehow possible to let everyone see from ONE perspective, and one alone, let everybody feel and see and hear and touch and taste the same way.... do you think the problems would cease?

then we'd be the borg.

[Linzoy]

Doesn't everyone strive to make others feel the same way they do? Isn't that the main point of music, art, writing, screaming, putting bumper stickers on your car, and making facial expressions? People pretty much see everything through the same eyes as every other person. Everyone is capable of feeling every emotion and probably has felt it at some point in their lives. A person's personality is just a combination of the habits they've gotten themselves into. If someone is nervous all the time it's because their brain has gotten too deeply into the habit of it. It's not because they can feel some mysterious emotion that you aren't capable of understanding.

[exemplary citizen]

Doesn't everyone strive to make others feel the same way they do? Isn't that the main point of music, art, writing, screaming, putting bumper stickers on your car, and making facial expressions?
Would that stuff even exist if there wasn't a drive to try and bridge that understanding gap? Without those differences in perception, there'd be no reason to make any of those things that (I think) distinguish us as human beings, like visual art, music, hell <i>anything</i> not directly neccessary to survival. If everyone was automatically "on the same page", there'd be no reason to try and communicate an idea to our fellow humans; they'd already know about it and have the same opinion as you anyway, so where's the point? We kind of <i>need</i> those conflicting viewpoints in order to have the other stuff, which kind of makes it worth it in the end if you ask me.

[argonaut]

My reaction to this was much like Ami's (because Ami rocks and we should all think exactly like her ;) ) At first blush it might seem a good idea that if we all saw things the same way, we'd have nothing to fight about. But just a half step away is the idea of persuading everybody to think the same way, which is the voice of censorship and oppression.

I highly doubt that Monet saw colors the way I do. Or that Socrates, or Copernicus, or Mozart, or Hawking saw the world from my perspective. Or, for that matter, Hitler or Stalin or Jimmie Jones. Taken to this extreme, the question becomes would you trade Adolf Hitler for Jonas Salk? I don't believe I would. Humanity has been able to advance and flourish and create beautiful and astonshing things because of people who look at the world in a unique way. Even Hitler, in its way, has been a benefit to humanity, by showing us what we are capable of at our worst and motivating us to ensure such things are not repeated.

[Linzoy]

Would that stuff even exist if there wasn't a drive to try and bridge that understanding gap? Without those differences in perception, there'd be no reason to make any of those things that (I think) distinguish us as human beings, like visual art, music, hell <i>anything</i> not directly neccessary to survival. If everyone was automatically "on the same page", there'd be no reason to try and communicate an idea to our fellow humans; they'd already know about it and have the same opinion as you anyway, so where's the point? We kind of <i>need</i> those conflicting viewpoints in order to have the other stuff, which kind of makes it worth it in the end if you ask me.I don't think there's anything wrong with healthy competition and I didn't say there was. There isn't progress without pain.

[tater]

I don't think there's anything wrong with healthy competition and I didn't say there was. There isn't progress without pain.
But I think the point is, if everyone feels the same way, you get rid of that competition. No one will compete because they will all feel the same and agree on things. I think.

There is a certain satisfaction that comes from being understood and sometimes I wish that the world could just see things through my eyes for a while. If everyone could feel the same things, it would create peace of a kind. It would also take away that which makes us ... us. No one would be unique anymore and there would be no reason to travel or explore new things. We'd already know how they feel. What purpose could life possibly have if we started out already knowing everything? And then where does that leave us?

[Durana-Kal]

Eh. I suppose you're right... if we lost out unique point of view on the world, we'd lose who we are.

[Linzoy]

But I think the point is, if everyone feels the same way, you get rid of that competition. No one will compete because they will all feel the same and agree on things. I think.
Yes but I never said everyone should understand each other, that would be stupid.

[exemplary citizen]

We're not arguing with you, we're just using something you said as a basis for discussion.

[rocketgal]

i used to always think about that colour shit. i can only assume that what i see as red is probably someone elses purple. it eats at me.
also what i see as red is different to say the lease seeing as i am half blind to start with.
i know im facing what you said too literally. literal lateral thinking. it is my candy

[exemplary citizen]

Hey Claire, you would know about this since you're also an arty-student type person; have you noticed your color perception changing after getting into color theory? I've been noticing that happening to me lately.