In my experience no one ever operates on level 1, even, or especially, if they think they do. Every communication attempt has a motivation behind it, whether apparent to the person communicating or not. This fully applies to this comment, as well.
Sure they do. If you ask a random stranger “where is the toilet?” or “when does the event begin?”, you will probably get a level 1 answer.
If you are saying that no one operates exclusively on level 1, then I agree with you. I would even agree that communication often happens on multiple levels at once. But level 1 communication definitely happens; we often communicate actual, literal facts. In cases where there isn’t any real emotion involved, like giving directions to strangers, we may operate only on level 1 for a moment.
The amount I get asked by strangers for directions has a lot to do with my own emotional state. After going to certain personal development workshops the amount I’m asked is much bigger.
If I’m waiting for an event to start and someone asks “when does the event begin?”, I might answer it in a way that just communicated a few facts and hope the person doesn’t bother me more. I might also answer it in a way to invite further conversation to occupy myself while waiting.
I think the sentiment was “even things that look like they might only be operating at level 1, they are also operating at other levels”.
The fact that the stranger responds at all to your request for the bathroom signifies an amount of “We are on the same side enough to not physically attack each other”. There are places where you can ask a stranger a question and they straight up won’t answer you, or won’t give you a true answer.
There are places where you can ask a stranger a question and they straight up won’t answer you, or won’t give you a true answer.
Indeed. The expectation that one can walk up to a complete stranger, ask a relatively innocuous question, and get a true answer is a rather WEIRD phenomenon. One of the asides that Graeber relates in Debt: The First 5000 Years is the story of an anthropologist who visits a tribe in Africa. He asks the directions to a nearby pond, and is deliberately deceived. Months later, when he has a greater level of rapport with the members of the tribe, he asks why they deceived him on the answer to a relatively innocuous fact-based question. Their answer is that, as a stranger, they did not know why he needed to go to the pond, or what he was going to do there. Their only knowledge was that 1) the anthropologist was a stranger and 2) the location of the pond was valuable information to him. As a result, their default position was to withhold the information (by lying, in this case). The tribe-members then assured him that they would of course give him reliable directions now, because he was known to the tribe and thus was not judged to be a threat.
I agree with shminux that there is no such thing as “pure” level-1 communication. Even when someone is relaying a true fact without any other connotations (i.e. a response to, “Do you have the time,” or “Where’s the bathroom?”) they’re relaying that they trust you enough to approach them and ask the question, and they’re comfortable enough with you to give you a true answer. That’s not nothing! In many parts of the world and through large parts of history, one had to undertake elaborate ceremonies in order to establish that level of baseline trust. The fact that said trust exists as a baseline among strangers is testimony to how civilized a modern industrialized society is.
Sure. I just thought it was worth drawing a distinction between “level 1 happens, but not always and often commingled with other levels” (which is true) and “level 1 never happens” (which is a one-way ticket to cloudcuckooland, but which many people seem to believe anyway). If you find yourself in a situation where nobody ever operates at level 1, you should leave.
In my experience no one ever operates on level 1, even, or especially, if they think they do. Every communication attempt has a motivation behind it, whether apparent to the person communicating or not. This fully applies to this comment, as well.
Sure they do. If you ask a random stranger “where is the toilet?” or “when does the event begin?”, you will probably get a level 1 answer.
If you are saying that no one operates exclusively on level 1, then I agree with you. I would even agree that communication often happens on multiple levels at once. But level 1 communication definitely happens; we often communicate actual, literal facts. In cases where there isn’t any real emotion involved, like giving directions to strangers, we may operate only on level 1 for a moment.
The amount I get asked by strangers for directions has a lot to do with my own emotional state. After going to certain personal development workshops the amount I’m asked is much bigger.
If I’m waiting for an event to start and someone asks “when does the event begin?”, I might answer it in a way that just communicated a few facts and hope the person doesn’t bother me more. I might also answer it in a way to invite further conversation to occupy myself while waiting.
I think the sentiment was “even things that look like they might only be operating at level 1, they are also operating at other levels”.
The fact that the stranger responds at all to your request for the bathroom signifies an amount of “We are on the same side enough to not physically attack each other”. There are places where you can ask a stranger a question and they straight up won’t answer you, or won’t give you a true answer.
Indeed. The expectation that one can walk up to a complete stranger, ask a relatively innocuous question, and get a true answer is a rather WEIRD phenomenon. One of the asides that Graeber relates in Debt: The First 5000 Years is the story of an anthropologist who visits a tribe in Africa. He asks the directions to a nearby pond, and is deliberately deceived. Months later, when he has a greater level of rapport with the members of the tribe, he asks why they deceived him on the answer to a relatively innocuous fact-based question. Their answer is that, as a stranger, they did not know why he needed to go to the pond, or what he was going to do there. Their only knowledge was that 1) the anthropologist was a stranger and 2) the location of the pond was valuable information to him. As a result, their default position was to withhold the information (by lying, in this case). The tribe-members then assured him that they would of course give him reliable directions now, because he was known to the tribe and thus was not judged to be a threat.
I agree with shminux that there is no such thing as “pure” level-1 communication. Even when someone is relaying a true fact without any other connotations (i.e. a response to, “Do you have the time,” or “Where’s the bathroom?”) they’re relaying that they trust you enough to approach them and ask the question, and they’re comfortable enough with you to give you a true answer. That’s not nothing! In many parts of the world and through large parts of history, one had to undertake elaborate ceremonies in order to establish that level of baseline trust. The fact that said trust exists as a baseline among strangers is testimony to how civilized a modern industrialized society is.
Sure. I just thought it was worth drawing a distinction between “level 1 happens, but not always and often commingled with other levels” (which is true) and “level 1 never happens” (which is a one-way ticket to cloudcuckooland, but which many people seem to believe anyway). If you find yourself in a situation where nobody ever operates at level 1, you should leave.