I was being brief (and imprecise) in my self-assessment as that wasn’t the main point of the comment. I didn’t even mean broken in the sense that other might have meant it, i.e. Aspergers.
I just don’t enjoy social conversation much normally. I can do it such that the other person enjoys it somewhat. An example, I was chatting to a cute dancer last night (at someone’s 30th so I was obliged to), and she invited me to watch her latest dance. I declined because I wasn’t into her (or into watching dance). She was nice and pretty, nothing wrong with her, but I just don’t tend to seek marginal connections with people because they don’t do much for me. Historically the people I connect with have seem to have been people that have challenged me or can make me think in odd directions.
This I understand is an unusual way to pick people to associate with, so I think something in the way I process social signals is different from the norm. This is what I meant.
I know what’s going on. You think of yourself and others as collections of thoughts and ideas. Since most people don’t have interesting thoughts or ideas, you think they aren’t interesting. OTOH, it’s possible to adopt, temporarily and in a manner which automatically reverses itself, the criteria for assigning interest that the person you are associating with uses. When you do that, everyone turns out to be interesting and likable.
I know what’s going on. You think of yourself and others as collections of thoughts and ideas. Since most people don’t have interesting thoughts or ideas, you think they aren’t interesting
That wasn’t my working hypothesis. Mine was that I have different language capabilities and that those affect what social situations I find easy and enjoyable (and so the different people I chose to associate with). For example I can quite happily rattle off some surreal story with someone or I enjoy helping someone plan or design something. I find it hard to narrate stories about my life or remember interesting tidbits about the world that aren’t in my interest right at the moment.
OTOH, it’s possible to adopt, temporarily and in a manner which automatically reverses itself, the criteria for assigning interest that the person you are associating with uses. When you do that, everyone turns out to be interesting and likable.
Oh I can find many things interesting for a brief time, e.g. where the best place to be a dancer is (London is better than Europe) or how the some school kids were playing up today. Just subconsciously my brain knows it doesn’t want lots of that sort of information or social interaction so sends signals that I do not want to have long term friendships with these sorts of people.
Can you expand that thought, and the process? Doesn’t adopting the other person’s criteria constitute a kind of “self-deception” if you happen to dislike/disapprove his/her criteria?
I mean that even if, despite your dislikes, you sympathize with the paths that led to that person’s motivations, if reading a book happens to be a truly more interesting activity at that moment, and is an actionable alternative, I don’t see how connecting with the person could be a better choice.
Unless… you find something very enjoyable in this process itself that doesn’t depend much on the person. I remember your comment about “liking people’s territories instead of their maps” — it seems to be related here. Is it?
Do you ever just associate with people you find attractive at first sight? (I can’t tell if you’re referring to a strip club, or what kind of dancer you mean.)
You may find Prof. Richard Wiseman’s research on what makes people “lucky” interesting: his research has found advantages to seeking marginal connections with people you meet.
Do you mean sexually attractive? Or just interesting looking? I’ll initiate conversation with interesting looking people (that may or may not be sexually attractive).
By dancer I just meant someone who does modern dance, she was a friend of a friend (I have some odd friends by this websites standard I think).
Oh I know I should develop more marginal connections. It simply feels false to do so though, that I am doing so in the hopes of exploiting them, rather than finding them particularly interesting in their own right. I would rather not be cultivated in that fashion.
I was being brief (and imprecise) in my self-assessment as that wasn’t the main point of the comment. I didn’t even mean broken in the sense that other might have meant it, i.e. Aspergers.
I just don’t enjoy social conversation much normally. I can do it such that the other person enjoys it somewhat. An example, I was chatting to a cute dancer last night (at someone’s 30th so I was obliged to), and she invited me to watch her latest dance. I declined because I wasn’t into her (or into watching dance). She was nice and pretty, nothing wrong with her, but I just don’t tend to seek marginal connections with people because they don’t do much for me. Historically the people I connect with have seem to have been people that have challenged me or can make me think in odd directions.
This I understand is an unusual way to pick people to associate with, so I think something in the way I process social signals is different from the norm. This is what I meant.
I know what’s going on. You think of yourself and others as collections of thoughts and ideas. Since most people don’t have interesting thoughts or ideas, you think they aren’t interesting. OTOH, it’s possible to adopt, temporarily and in a manner which automatically reverses itself, the criteria for assigning interest that the person you are associating with uses. When you do that, everyone turns out to be interesting and likable.
That wasn’t my working hypothesis. Mine was that I have different language capabilities and that those affect what social situations I find easy and enjoyable (and so the different people I chose to associate with). For example I can quite happily rattle off some surreal story with someone or I enjoy helping someone plan or design something. I find it hard to narrate stories about my life or remember interesting tidbits about the world that aren’t in my interest right at the moment.
Oh I can find many things interesting for a brief time, e.g. where the best place to be a dancer is (London is better than Europe) or how the some school kids were playing up today. Just subconsciously my brain knows it doesn’t want lots of that sort of information or social interaction so sends signals that I do not want to have long term friendships with these sorts of people.
Hi, Michael.
Can you expand that thought, and the process? Doesn’t adopting the other person’s criteria constitute a kind of “self-deception” if you happen to dislike/disapprove his/her criteria?
I mean that even if, despite your dislikes, you sympathize with the paths that led to that person’s motivations, if reading a book happens to be a truly more interesting activity at that moment, and is an actionable alternative, I don’t see how connecting with the person could be a better choice.
Unless… you find something very enjoyable in this process itself that doesn’t depend much on the person. I remember your comment about “liking people’s territories instead of their maps” — it seems to be related here. Is it?
Do you ever just associate with people you find attractive at first sight? (I can’t tell if you’re referring to a strip club, or what kind of dancer you mean.)
You may find Prof. Richard Wiseman’s research on what makes people “lucky” interesting: his research has found advantages to seeking marginal connections with people you meet.
Do you mean sexually attractive? Or just interesting looking? I’ll initiate conversation with interesting looking people (that may or may not be sexually attractive).
By dancer I just meant someone who does modern dance, she was a friend of a friend (I have some odd friends by this websites standard I think).
Oh I know I should develop more marginal connections. It simply feels false to do so though, that I am doing so in the hopes of exploiting them, rather than finding them particularly interesting in their own right. I would rather not be cultivated in that fashion.
I meant sexually attractive (you described the dancer as “cute” and “pretty”). Though I guess either would work.