the meaninglessness of interaction with people

Does anyone ever get a feeling when you talk to people that the response you get isn't them thinking, it's just their conditioning, no matter what they say. It feels so hopeless sometimes. Almost like being in a prison.

The irony is that whatever you reply to this post might be nothing but your conditioning coming out, and this post might be nothing but my conditioning coming out. Caught in a web.

I struggle to interact with a lot of people as I tend to know there views and responses based purely on my understanding of them and the kind of lives they lead.

It takes a lot of paitience to go through the motions and not loose the plot.

a reply to: introspectionist

a reply to: introspectionist

I agree and have commented on these boards about it.

Many years ago I threw out my tv, and since then when I talk to peope I know I'm really talking to the tv.

a reply to: introspectionist

Actually ATS is the place where I am least conditioned. I find myself talking to people the way I am conditioned, I wish I didn't. I just cannot be myself in front of people and give them my genuine opinion or genuine self. This has really hurt me with relationships and believe it is the result of society and it hyper sensitivity now adays, you just never know who you are going to accidentally offend.

originally posted by: VoidHawk
when I talk to peope I know I'm really talking to the tv.

lol. love it.

I read in some book that people are like plants, being a product of the soil, or something like that.

It's weird, when you interact with a person it's like a peephole out into the world. But just like going on google you know there's a lot that you don't get up no matter what buttons you press and you know that the stuff that you do get up is a product of engineering.

The good thing about internet forums is that you can tell the truth and express your feelings without having to live with the fact that somebody may disagree with you and it has an impact on your day to day life.

Couple that with the fact that there a rules that don't apply in real life and it makes for a fun place to be.

a reply to: Shepard64

That's why 90% of the time when I feel the urge to post on this forum. I sit back and think "will what I say even matter to the person/people I'm directing it at?

Usually the answer is no and I don't even hit the reply button.

originally posted by: nonspecific
The good thing about internet forums is that you can tell the truth and express your feelings without having to live with the fact that somebody may disagree with you and it has an impact on your day to day life.

Couple that with the fact that there a rules that don't apply in real life and it makes for a fun place to be.

a reply to: Shepard64

Perhaps but...

Consider the online personality, built on fantasy and macho hyperbole where no one will know what a pathetic, frightened and lonely individual you really are. A far cry from a conducive environment to be truthful.

And the rules are designed to foster what I just described. It is fun though if cultural hallucinations can be recognized and in a surreal way....appreciated.

I am the complete opposite in that respect.

I often re read a post and think "this is my opinion, I can give it and even if everyone disagrees I don't have to sleep on the sofa and still have a job in the morning.

I find it quite liberating even if I do sometimes regret it.

a reply to: corvuscorrax

originally posted by: Shepard64
a reply to: introspectionist

Actually ATS is the place where I am least conditioned. I find myself talking to people the way I am conditioned, I wish I didn't. I just cannot be myself in front of people and give them my genuine opinion or genuine self. This has really hurt me with relationships and believe it is the result of society and it hyper sensitivity now adays, you just never know who you are going to accidentally offend.

It seems like you and I have different ideas of what conditioning is. What I mean by conditioning you wouldn't normally be able to identify in yourself. If anything it would appear to be your own thoughts and ideas.

originally posted by: introspectionist
Does anyone ever get a feeling when you talk to people that the response you get isn't them thinking, it's just their conditioning, no matter what they say. It feels so hopeless sometimes. Almost like being in a prison.

The irony is that whatever you reply to this post might be nothing but your conditioning coming out, and this post might be nothing but my conditioning coming out. Caught in a web.

In the era of social media and technology that we are in, it is inevitable. it is pretty depressing. I get that all the time, I feel like I am interacting with a robot not a human being. I get like that too sometimes, more recently than ever but it is not because I don't know how to interact and engage in conversation its because I know, most of the time that a person does not want to talk about the stuff I think about. I am a very spiritual person, I love to talk about things that are unnatural to society today. I get called weird or philosophical or whatever. I am also very caring, so when I ask a random person or a friend how they are doing, I really do mean it. but then again, I am not like the rest of society, and I don't think you are either, which is a good thing because being "normal" is not normal.

originally posted by: nonspecific
The good thing about internet forums is that you can tell the truth and express your feelings without having to live with the fact that somebody may disagree with you and it has an impact on your day to day life.

Couple that with the fact that there a rules that don't apply in real life and it makes for a fun place to be.

a reply to: Shepard64

It seems like some of you might not be getting what I was intending to communicate in the OP. I talked in another thread about how our entire information landscape is controlled and thus our minds, and how we live in a bubble, unaware of the outside world, no less than the North Koreans do. This is what I'm talking about here in this thread. Imagine you were in North Korea and nobody had a clue about anything in the outside world other than what their state TV says, and nobody had been outside the country themself, then imagine you walk around and talk to these people trying to get an understanding of what the outside world is like. That's kind of how I feel a lot of times when I interact with people, and it doesn't matter if it's talking IRL or if it's writing on a forum.

Ok I think I see where you're coming from, maybe I missed that because that's not how I see the world.

I understand your point but I took myself away from that view point and that is what I tried to convey, If you have outgrown your social circle then it is time to expand it.

You can never tell people anything to try so is futile, Belive me I have tried and failed so I went out and found some people that did not need telling and learnt a few things along the way.

If I am still not getting the point I appologise.



a reply to: introspectionist

a reply to: introspectionist

Sounds like the name of an emo album.

I feel you on this though, I have always had a hard time relating to and communicating with other people. I was always a loner in school, eating lunch alone never had many friends. I have gotten better though and regardless of what people say, the internet has helped me learn how to communicate better.

a reply to: introspectionist

That is what I meant in my post, maybe I didn't word it the best.

whoops nevermind I see what you are saying now.

originally posted by: solemind4
In the era of social media and technology that we are in, it is inevitable. it is pretty depressing. I get that all the time, I feel like I am interacting with a robot not a human being.

That's a very interesting point you're bringing up there. I have been thinking about how all of this connects to evolution and spirituality. I think it is a spiritual phenomenon, and that technology is part of it. I talked about what I think is the purpose of Marxism, Zionism and feminism in this thread. I think technology is very much a part of the same development.

And as for something being depressing, I think depression is the growing pains of the soul, just like I wrote that oppression might be in a thread I posted recently.

a reply to: introspectionist

Sassafras tea!

a reply to: introspectionist

Get real Mister! You HAVE to interact with many people everyday. You just don't value and notice everybody that is keeping YOU alive. All the people that drive your food to the supermarket, who make your clothes, build your house, keep you safe, grow your food. That little list is endless. I assure you that without interaction you would be standing quite naked and hungry in the cold. You are not that self sufficient.

But of course we know what you really mean. You mean coming from your spoilt little view point of how it is so noble to be nihilistic, unsociable and oh so aloof. How fashionable.

You DEPEND on many people in terms of interaction for your very survival. Just like I do and just like everybody else here does. There is no escape from that no matter how rude, unappreciative and negative we are about our fellow human being.

a reply to: introspectionist

Yes, I get that feeling alot. From my personal experience and reflection, I've come to feel that we are WAY less in rational control of our words and behaviors (and certainly our thoughts) than we commonly give ourselves credit for. Have you ever heard of the "split brain" studies in which patients whose corpus collosum had been surgically severed - and whose two cerebral hemispheres were thus unable to communicate with each other - ended up, in effect, having two brains, neither of which knew what the other was doing?

I can't recall all the details (I'm sure you can YouTube it), but a a stimulus would be presented to one half of the brain, when the other half of the brain responded, it didn't know why it responded as it did but would make something up on the fly that seemed plausible. Really strange phenomenon.

Here's a quick YouTube on split brain:



I think a lot of our "self" is on autopilot much more than is apparent to us.

Sometimes you notice in others what their issues are and what their triggers are even if you are blind to your own sometimes. Even if you are not writing what they think you are writing they are ego projecting meaning there would not be if they where not putting extra meaning that is wider than the words.

It is interesting to see because sometimes they show more of what their wants are inside than they know.