exclusivity breeds isolation

[lowly_caterpillar]

I have hatched a theory, i dont know how much discussion it will prompt, but: Exclusivity breeds solitude, closing yourself off to others on a frequent basis will eventually lead you into complete snobbishness and solitude, people as beings find faults in others, I call this judgement. If we listen to our instinctive judgement in dealing with others we will be fine. If we add artificial judgement to our own through way of media and others opinions then we will eventually find fault in everything leading us down the thornlined path to isolation.

agree, please poke holes in my theory they are welcome

[fromupnorth]

There will always be influences to our intuition. As society becomes more inured to the use of technology, we all ignore what our instincts tell us. If you watch people, you will find that they rely on technology to get them through each day. Think of the computer generation of msn, or forums, or computer dating. IT is almost compelling us to ignore the physical signs that our ingrained instinct has been developing for centuries. I agree with your theory. Please expand if you can.

[lowly_caterpillar]

Yes, I agree with this, technology is an artifice, a manmade artifice that impedes "natural" judgement, I put natural in quotations because as a word it is ery subjective. Nature as an idea was created by man as are things like technology but by natural i mean interpersonal, and not intercomputersystem communication. Advertisements have always been around to sway our judgement towards their product and in the process mold ours, once exposed to something you cant take it back so it adds to the collage of artificial judgements. In saying this i'll clarify that i dont believe people all respond to the same advertisement in the same way. The more conveniences we add to our lives the more it seems we are being persuaded to live separately, independantly and completely mobile surviving not on human interaction but on vehicles of communication.

[fromupnorth]

So if artificial judgements through advertising and exposure are added to the "soup" of our own judgements

, how does one make a judgement that is purely their own? As a society of technology dependent people, how would you suggest that we return to the original state of using physical interaction and intuition? Should society regress to that original state, what would become of those who are totally dependent on the technology of today? What judgements would they have to "unlearn"?

Unfortunately, I seem to only be able to come up with more questions for you. The path to exclusivity seems to be littered with judgements. Do we as individuals adhere to every judgement we hear or see? No, we have individual thought processes that allow us to use those judgements we deem usable and discard the remainder. Is there influence in advertising, yes. But there is also influence in person to person contact as well. For instance if we see a mother feeding a child a piece of grapefruit, do we make a face knowing that the child is going to hate it, or do we wait to see if the child likes it? Chances are we will make a face knowing how the baby will react to the sour taste. That reaction is a judgement. And the child will make a judgement based on what reaction he/she sees. Judgement, good or bad, based on assumptions. That child may dislike grapefruit for their entire life, or until such time as that judgement can be taken out , examined and kept or discarded. That said, influenced by others, yes we are. But we don't have to carry those judgements, either self imposed or not, around with us our entire lives. Isolation and solitude are choices. Total isolation from human contact; we might have once believed that only a hermit could survive that much isolation. Now we see it every day, and as you pointed out with the self enforced isolation that technology allows us to create.