Let’s talk, let’s be human!

Point (.)

More than a dot in space, an invention which has stood as a proof of man’s ingenuity in time. Something so incredible that it has found its place across the spectrum of human knowledge. But today we want it for something much elementary, something more direct, something which is its own namesake. We are using it to ask a question, maybe a recurring one, or until we get to where we want. The (million dollar) question is “what is the point?”

What’s the point of asking a question (we have already begun)? It’s to know the answer you would say, but again, what’s the point?

The point is communication! But what’s the point of communication? Well we have reached where we intended to...

If you watch movies based on the IMDB ratings, then I am more than 70% (I could have said 80 but 70 feels more..legit!) sure that you must have watched “Cast Away”. A movie starring Tom Hanks himself. The funny foreign guy in “The Terminal” or the saviour of private Riyan in “Saving Private Riyan”. But Tom Hanks is irrelevant at this point of time (this ‘point’ was unintended), what is relevant though is the ridiculous companion of Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away. Spoiler alert!, the ridiculous companion we are referring to here is the football that gets washed up to the beach of the island where Tom Hanks is cast away!

Back to the question, what makes Tom Hanks desperate enough to take a lifeless football for a companion? Is it because he’s losing it or is it because he’s being smart? Quite contrasting tendencies you might ask, how can he be either losing it or be smart. And can a man in such an abject condition and almost on the brink of insanity be ever called smart. In about a minute from now you might start to lean towards this latter opinion yourself.

Let’s break it down further;

A man needs to talk, not just to keep himself and others entertained, but also for a far more fundamental reason, which is, to be human and to remain as such. To be human is to communicate (this is the primary premise we are developing here). Are we getting ahead of ourselves or is it truly one of our basic needs– something that mostly evades popular attention.

Let’s philosophise; humans have an innate tendency to narrativize (that came out surprisingly well!). In fact every human discourse – be it on political issues, socio-economic matters, cultural problems, or any sort of scientific speculation– is in itself a narrative in one form or the other. Much can be said about man’s discursive faculties that nature has bestowed upon him but suffice it to say that words on the one hand, in their constructive capacity, can rouse the dead, heal the sick (even literally as in the case of Jesus), mend the broken hearted and on the other hand in their destructive form wage wars, bring despair and unleash chaos of all kinds. If words wield such power, how incumbent is it upon man to learn to control this power and force it to his service at will. And what better definition of communication than the ability to dispose of the power of words in their best possible constructive capacity (cheers!).

So the case of Tom Hanks, finding a lifeless object and using it to project his inner narratives at, engaging in a dialogue with it, and most of all turning it into an outward object of self-criticism and retrospection, is from the point of view of communication nothing short of intelligence!

If you still fail to reconcile with our primary premise about communication, then let’s go through a small activity. Close your eyes and continue as such until you reach a state in which even your imaginations run dark and you no longer know what to even think. Now imagine this, before you open your eyes you reach a strange place unlike the world you are used to, where nothing is familiar. There is no one else there, just you, neither the sound of the birds nor the flutter of their wings, just you! What is that first thing you will do as soon as you lay your eyes open? In all likelihood and immediately, even before noticing your own breathing, you will talk to yourself, ask questions, try to get as much sense out of your situation as possible. Well this my friend, is nothing but a voluntary attempt at communication. The premise stands confirmed!

Author is Data Scientist at Tata Steel Ltd. He is the participant in current batch of GKSC.