How easily can you tell two leather bags apart, that are roughly the same size, would you be able to tell which one is yours just by the wrinkles alone? What about two different scribbled papers? You will have a very hard time in most days.
But you are constantly doing the same thing to the leather wrapping named "face"... covering our silly skulls. And this is because we dedicate far more portion of our brains to humans than to any other inanimate object or even animals.
This leads us to create a hack for utilizing more of our brains. That is the process of humanizing non-human elements in our life. With this we can engage more actively with objects and concepts. So a country can be compared with a mother - calling for your devotion and sacrifice- things you would not feel for mere soil. The river becomes a lady in the poet's eyes, conjuring romantic images. The phone becomes a friend, preferring to push you the same music tracks it likes - every time you say 'shuffle all tracks'.
This humanizing makes it easier for us to use our sense of empathy and responsibility, that was built to help us survive with each other. This process allows us to take the same drives to the next level, and help in organizing the masses under ambiguous superstructures, structures that hover over any mortals, and extend to more range than any individual capacity.
But this hack of humanizing non-humans, can easily be abused just as well as it can be used.
You think of a bad relationship as a kid, afraid of 'killing it off'. You think of your construction project as your baby, putting in more and more hours into nurturing it - at the expense of family times.
The cult group becomes a father for the member - with guidance and punishment for them - and the children willing to continue father's wishes at all steps.
A company can becomes a person - leading to say things like "I have done a lot for this company, I hope it remembers me."
Well the company, does not have a mind, or a brain - it is a collection of individuals who have minds of their own, all busy with an agenda distinct from the company.
The relationship has no meaning unless the two of you survive.
The project will not be writing it's memoir on its diary and crying for you.
And cults, well let's just stay away- shall we?
So the next time when you feel overly devoted, empathizing with any 'thing', take a step back and think, are you hacking your brain again? Are you over stretching yourself for a non-human at the expense of a real human that is you or your family? Maybe doing that makes sense, maybe it doesn't, but please be sure to know who you are sacrificing for.
Radi
2 December 2019
Dhaka
edit. 27 March 2023. I just realized this is a whole section of psychology. Anthropomorphism. I would have used this term had I known before.
But you are constantly doing the same thing to the leather wrapping named "face"... covering our silly skulls. And this is because we dedicate far more portion of our brains to humans than to any other inanimate object or even animals.
This leads us to create a hack for utilizing more of our brains. That is the process of humanizing non-human elements in our life. With this we can engage more actively with objects and concepts. So a country can be compared with a mother - calling for your devotion and sacrifice- things you would not feel for mere soil. The river becomes a lady in the poet's eyes, conjuring romantic images. The phone becomes a friend, preferring to push you the same music tracks it likes - every time you say 'shuffle all tracks'.
This humanizing makes it easier for us to use our sense of empathy and responsibility, that was built to help us survive with each other. This process allows us to take the same drives to the next level, and help in organizing the masses under ambiguous superstructures, structures that hover over any mortals, and extend to more range than any individual capacity.
But this hack of humanizing non-humans, can easily be abused just as well as it can be used.
You think of a bad relationship as a kid, afraid of 'killing it off'. You think of your construction project as your baby, putting in more and more hours into nurturing it - at the expense of family times.
The cult group becomes a father for the member - with guidance and punishment for them - and the children willing to continue father's wishes at all steps.
A company can becomes a person - leading to say things like "I have done a lot for this company, I hope it remembers me."
Well the company, does not have a mind, or a brain - it is a collection of individuals who have minds of their own, all busy with an agenda distinct from the company.
The relationship has no meaning unless the two of you survive.
The project will not be writing it's memoir on its diary and crying for you.
And cults, well let's just stay away- shall we?
So the next time when you feel overly devoted, empathizing with any 'thing', take a step back and think, are you hacking your brain again? Are you over stretching yourself for a non-human at the expense of a real human that is you or your family? Maybe doing that makes sense, maybe it doesn't, but please be sure to know who you are sacrificing for.
Radi
2 December 2019
Dhaka
edit. 27 March 2023. I just realized this is a whole section of psychology. Anthropomorphism. I would have used this term had I known before.