Do you think it's possible for any of us to actually know what it's like to be human?
If we all only know life from our own mind's perspective, then there's no real point of comparison for us with each other. Try as someone else may to explain how their thought processes work and how they feel about different things, we're all still only interpreting what others are saying inside of our own minds.
Like, let's say all your life, you've only heard one song. You've never heard any other song but this song, and you know other music exists, but you've never heard it and you have no way of hearing it. And people try to explain to you what this other music sounds like, and they explain that there are whole genres of music, and various musicians with different styles, from rap to electronic to folk to rock, but you've only ever heard classical. And if you've only ever heard this *one* classical song, how is it expected that you could even fathom what an electronic song sounds like? If you've gone your entire life only having heard one song, is it safe to say you even understand what music is?
Is any of this making sense? What do you think?
Anonymous2013-02-06T12:38:02Z
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Makes perfect sense to me.
This is why native americans suggested that we not judge others until we have walked a mile in their moccasins.
All of us have our own concepts and notions of humanity. Some ideals are a general consensus of the world (such as the idea that raping, bullying and such is categorized under something 'bad). But of course, there are grey areas where one person might consider something to be an act of humanity, while another might consider it inhuman. Mercy killing, for example. In my opinion, right and wrong *does exist*. But there is no set of rules in this world that tell us *what* is right or wrong. That's up to us to figure out.
In response to the music analogy, no, you wouldn't know what music is. But not because you've heard just one song. But because there's always something more to music. The person who listens to classical and electronic may know more than you, the person who listens to classical, electronic and country may know even more and the person who's been in the music industry for 10 years may know the most, but he won't know *all* of it. What if someone came to a person A who understood music the best and explained to him a whole new genre that no one had heard. Wouldn't that imply that A didn't really fully understand music? This is obviously analogous to understanding humanity (which is what I think you were comparing it to in your question). You can live for a million years, and have the best and most in depth understanding of what humanity is, but it will never be a complete understanding. There will always be something more. Human nature is complicated, sometimes predictable and sometimes fickle. Human nature is constantly developing and changing. Thoughts evolve. Popular beliefs change. Perceptions of different things change. And it isn't within the capacity of any person to just know exactly what humanity is. All these perceptions will (as you say) be distorted by the person's own beliefs. There is a certain limit to how unprejudiced a person can be when listening to other people's thoughts and opinions.
However, I think it is only Partially true. While we are each individuals, we are First a part of a Set/Group which has many commonalities. It is these common features - physical, genetic, physiological, social, emotional, mental, sensory, evolutionary, neurological ... - that group us together as a species. So the basic structure & hard-wiring is the same. This common thread links us to each other & hence we can, to a very large extent, understand, empathize, sympathize, connect with each other.
However, since we not clones or robots, each individual does have differences that may be the product of our genes, environment, learning, exposure, experience, neural associations, & so on. It is these nuanced differences that may cause different people or persons to react differently or have different personalities.
Since our Foundation is the same, since we Sense, Process, & Experience through similar organs & processes, we Can compare the larger aspects of our behaviour & thoughts, while retaining an individual flavor. In fact, our brains have something called 'mirror neurons' that allow us to visualize, ape, emote, empathize & learn through observation. These are usually missing or decreased or non/dysfunctional in children with autism & hence many such children cannot comprehend & relate to others.
As it is with Knowledge & information - No Individual can possibly know everything there is in this world, yet we All have some common & basic level of understanding & based on which we comprehend, function, behave. Similarly, we may not have heard all the types of music, yet even the musically uninitiated can enjoy the umpteen sounds in nature, can tell the difference between the sounds made by a bird(s), cow, cat, .... & even spot larger differences in musical genres [even if one cannot Name them]. This points to the underlying commonality of our group.
Add : I agree with Houston...
Add 2 : And Instincts are common to a species. This could be a potent source of understanding others.
These exact thoughts have run through my mind so many time I can't believe someone else shares these same thoughts. I think this is how we know we are all running the same race, because we all think similar things, similar yet different. I always wondered how do I know if the colors I see are the same as the colors others see. If the words I hear mean something different than the words she hears. I never got t he answer to that question but maybe one day I will. Minds are so weird, I can't understand myself sometimes, I can't understand anything but everything at the same time. Sorry I don't make sense sometimes haha.
- Your analogy doesn' t match your question. Let's ask a different way. Let's say you're a musician, and you've studied thousands of songs, written hundreds of tunes, and danced to every radio station know to man. But there's one song that's been sung deep in the woods where you have never heard it, and will never hear it. Are you still a musician? Of course you are.
This is the analogy you should use for your "human" question. Not what is missing that might be part of a human, but what is present that makes a human. And with that analogy, YES, most of us actually know what it is like to be human. Because we ARE "musicians", I mean "human".