Quality Time Ponderings

We humans are strange creatures really. We so desperately need to define everything that we constantly compromise ourselves when trying to label our surroundings. Not that we are the only ones trying to make the world understandable, I just think that we are experts in messing it up in our efforts. I mean, to survive, thrive and procreate every living being need to identify dangers, enemies, safe food sources, possible mates and so on. Any stupid cow know which grass to chew, and you don't see cats canoodling dogs that often either.

But the human world is so complex, and it's expanding and developing continuously, making it even harder to make sense of it all. The problems start when we can't find the right pegs to pin everything on. And we also are more stupid than the average monkey, 'cause they seem to learn from their mistakes. If they eat something that'll make them sick, they're likely to stay off that food. But we both drink and eat until we throw up, only to do it again the next weekend. Not very clever, I'd say...

Is there a point to this story, you might ask? As always I'm not really sure until the end, but let's see.

One thing about defining and labeling things, is that by doing so they automatically get certain characteristics and expectations attached to them. A car for instance, is a motor vehicle with four wheels, that can get you from A to B. A car is actually very good metaphor for many things, and I've had several lecturers who's used it to explain both programming and mathematical equations. One of the reasons it's working so well is that, I'd say, most people know what a car is, without any further explanations. If it's a top model fancy car with a 6 cylinder engine purring like a cat, or something more resembling a wreck like my Nissan Micra, they still share the same concept. It's a transport device.

But is that all? A car can be a show object, never to be used for driving. It can be an old veteran or a toy model without engine. I could go on here for a while, but I think you're starting to see what I'm getting at? And besides, a car has no feelings, if not taking Christine and Herbie into account.

Human relations on the other hand are far more complicated to define, even though we're trying to pinpoint them with the same accuracy as when classifying vegetables. To identify something you need to recognize it by some sort of reference, either be it personal experience or facts from a book. Feelings are tricky that way, 'cause they usually don't come one at the time. They appear in clusters, hard to separate, and that same feeling can also occur in a number of different situations, each time mingled up with other various feelings. An orange is still an orange in a fruit salad, but when blended with a lot of other fruits not so easy to detect.

(If this had been an academic text, every single statement would have been needed to be followed by clear arguments and extensive explanations, but "in real life" I prefer a style where most points can be read between the lines. Fun and interesting, and it also saves me from too much typing. So I trust that you'll understand my way of thinking without me spelling it out.)

Anyway, I talked about feelings and relations. Wouldn't it be great to be able to take a simple blood test or having an X-ray to see what you are "suffering" from? If you're anemic or your leg is broken, it's no problem for a doctor to diagnose those conditions, but testing for something like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a total different matter. Only by identifying the symptoms and ruling out other diseases you can get a fairly reliable diagnose. This might be the way to define feelings and human relations as well? Check the symptoms!

Or to put it simply - if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...