User:Thijshijsijsjss/Human Parser/About Manuals

Necessary. About the shortcomings of Manuals, and the format of this thesis. Maybe start with micro-anecdote. I imagine this annotation would be on one of the first manual pages. I'm still planning to open the manual with an email / letter, and think these could be attached there.

Manuals, 1

I will never be able to fully understand you.

My mother told me this over the phone, about 2 years ago. I have a great bond with my mother. We are very similar in many ways, but also very different in many more. Many of our conversations end in a newfound understanding of how exactly we differ. We notice different things, react differently to sensory stimuli and our thoughts follow different patterns. We have different ways of processing the world, each other and ourselves. She's quick to remind me that 'we're wired differently' -- and I think she finds comfort in that.

It's the great human tragedy that we're never able to fully comprehend another person's entirety. Maybe you can get a momentary glimpse in an instant, through means other than words, but that understanding is never sustained. Reversely, never being able to be fully understood can, at times, feel like an inescapable loneliness. But the great tragedy of not-understanding also holds the great human beauty: continuing to try to better understand each other regardless.

In conversation, an image of your conversation partner is created in your mind. Pretending understanding is equating the person to that image, and restricting that person to your understanding of them. To instead acknowledge the grey areas of understanding is a generous gift that allows for connections to develop and evolve. Hearing my mother acknowledge this, was immensely valuable in feeling seen.

Rough draft. This turned out longer than intended, and very personal, and I make some grand statements about the human experience that are only backed by my own experiences. Making up my mind how I feel about it, and curious about your thoughts.

Manuals, 2

Some people come with a manual.

This is another statement that addresses the difficulty in understanding. However, instead of embracing the beauty in that, this sentence creates the illusion that there's a concise way to overcome it. While the intention might often be an honest, good-spirited attempt to acknowledge our differences, there's an implicit friction to a statement like this. Instead of realizing that understanding is a continued, mutual effort, 'the manual' makes it seem as if just one party is 'the problem'. Moreover, seemingly it's that party's responsibility to come with a tool to help others understand them. What could be a wonderfully rich asymmetry, is turned into a hierarchical mess. Why do 'some people' need an outside tool to speak for them? What does this 'manual' entail, anyway? How can any manual possibly convey all human nuance?

Rough draft. The tone's a little harsh. I notice I'm continuously trying to condense my throughts, and end up with Frankensteinian texts. Also wonder here if I want to make an explicit reference to the format of the thesis, or if the decisions for that are / will be clear enough.