Hahahaha, that’s really funny! “It’s not like that at all” :)
My understanding is that the black box analogy is understood by some normal people, but not most.
How could you have made for a more enjoyable interaction? Some thoughts that come to my mind:
(Meta level: What’s my goal? Enjoyable conversation? Where do our interests overlap? I like to have interesting conversations. She’s probably not very smart, so her ability to have interesting conversations is probably limited to her domain. What interesting conversations could we have within her domain? What thoughts do I have about her domain? What are the likely ways she’d respond to those thoughts? Alternatives: skipping shallow talk and talking about emotional things is probably enjoyable. For some reason humans enjoy sharing their feelings. What’s the line between interesting and creepy? Are you happy? What are your ambitions? What would you do if you didn’t have to work?)
Our society’s fashion seems really dark. Dark blues, blacks, browns, greys etc. I think it’d be cool if there were more color. I like to wear colorful clothing, but don’t really. Mostly because it’s more difficult to pair things up and I’m lazy. Which would lead to her probably giving advice, and maybe talking about color in a historical sense. Was it more colorful in the past? Will it be in the future? On that note, are there any trends in color? What about across cultures? Do any consistencies across culture say anything about design/color and human nature?
Maybe once she’s been loosened up, I’d comment on how I love wearing pajama pants. Plus some stories of that. And my thoughts on how society seems to have chosen pretty uncomfortable clothes as its norms. There’s probably nothing inherent about suits and khakis and jeans that look good. If we all agreed that something more comfortable was the new norm, we’d probably be better off. (Pet peeve: the “shoulder pads” on suits are just ridiculous. You can’t even lift up your arms!) I wouldn’t open with this though; it’d probably be seen as too controversial and weird right away. But it might be fun/funny once the person’s been loosened up.
People who otherwise aren’t intelligent often have somewhat smart things to say within their domain. So maybe you’d be able to have some sort of enjoyable conversations with her about fashion, and maybe she’d enjoy the cognitive psychology topics/spins.
People who otherwise aren’t intelligent often have somewhat smart things to say within their domain.
Right! And this is why I tried to get her talking about fashion. I think your suggestion of asking more specific questions is very helpful. I’ll definitely try that next time I’m having trouble with the more generic “tell me about your expertise” type questions.
Yeah. One more thing—in some ways I’m a bit egocentric. So my instinct is to think about the thoughts that I have on the topic and discuss them (I tend to have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. Or at least a lot of questions.). I notice that I didn’t think too much about the strategy of evoking her strongly held opinions. But something about my more egocentric approach of pursuing lines of conversation that interest me feels more… natural/genuine, which I think often leads to good.
(Not that I’ve had much success. I’ve always done well in “natural” conversations and am outgoing, but I’ve never been motivated enough to overcome the awkwardness of initiating conversations with random people out of nothing.)
Hahahaha, that’s really funny! “It’s not like that at all” :)
My understanding is that the black box analogy is understood by some normal people, but not most.
How could you have made for a more enjoyable interaction? Some thoughts that come to my mind:
(Meta level: What’s my goal? Enjoyable conversation? Where do our interests overlap? I like to have interesting conversations. She’s probably not very smart, so her ability to have interesting conversations is probably limited to her domain. What interesting conversations could we have within her domain? What thoughts do I have about her domain? What are the likely ways she’d respond to those thoughts? Alternatives: skipping shallow talk and talking about emotional things is probably enjoyable. For some reason humans enjoy sharing their feelings. What’s the line between interesting and creepy? Are you happy? What are your ambitions? What would you do if you didn’t have to work?)
Our society’s fashion seems really dark. Dark blues, blacks, browns, greys etc. I think it’d be cool if there were more color. I like to wear colorful clothing, but don’t really. Mostly because it’s more difficult to pair things up and I’m lazy. Which would lead to her probably giving advice, and maybe talking about color in a historical sense. Was it more colorful in the past? Will it be in the future? On that note, are there any trends in color? What about across cultures? Do any consistencies across culture say anything about design/color and human nature?
Maybe once she’s been loosened up, I’d comment on how I love wearing pajama pants. Plus some stories of that. And my thoughts on how society seems to have chosen pretty uncomfortable clothes as its norms. There’s probably nothing inherent about suits and khakis and jeans that look good. If we all agreed that something more comfortable was the new norm, we’d probably be better off. (Pet peeve: the “shoulder pads” on suits are just ridiculous. You can’t even lift up your arms!) I wouldn’t open with this though; it’d probably be seen as too controversial and weird right away. But it might be fun/funny once the person’s been loosened up.
People who otherwise aren’t intelligent often have somewhat smart things to say within their domain. So maybe you’d be able to have some sort of enjoyable conversations with her about fashion, and maybe she’d enjoy the cognitive psychology topics/spins.
Right! And this is why I tried to get her talking about fashion. I think your suggestion of asking more specific questions is very helpful. I’ll definitely try that next time I’m having trouble with the more generic “tell me about your expertise” type questions.
Yeah. One more thing—in some ways I’m a bit egocentric. So my instinct is to think about the thoughts that I have on the topic and discuss them (I tend to have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. Or at least a lot of questions.). I notice that I didn’t think too much about the strategy of evoking her strongly held opinions. But something about my more egocentric approach of pursuing lines of conversation that interest me feels more… natural/genuine, which I think often leads to good.
(Not that I’ve had much success. I’ve always done well in “natural” conversations and am outgoing, but I’ve never been motivated enough to overcome the awkwardness of initiating conversations with random people out of nothing.)