It’s so interesting how everyone seems to have gotten different messages from this! I found this story helpful and wouldn’t cut out the length. I found I resonated most with Mr. Humman in terms of his values.
Some (of many) things I liked that Mr. Humman said:
None of us are strictly better than any other.
All of us are weaker in some places, and stronger in others; so nobody has the right to look down on anyone else.
“Oh, well,” Mr. Humman said, “I had really hoped more to hear of where you felt my own play was strong, or clever—the same sort of perspective that I offered you.” Mr. Humman kept any felt offense out of his voice; Humman was aware that not everyone could be as adept as he himself was, at social graces.
″...no matter how many fancy words you use, they won’t be as complicated as real reality, which is infinitely complicated. And therefore, all these things you are saying, which are less than infinitely complicated, must be wrong.”
“Intelligence is not a single line on a single spectrum,” declared Mr. Humman. “Reality is far more complicated.”
“But of course,” Mr. Humman continued, “all of that only matters under very artificial conditions imposed from outside, or as a contrived setup. In real life, we both have time to think and avoid obvious blunders before we move, so there is not a very great difference in real life. The reason I think it’s fair to say that I’m genuinely better at chess than a 5-year-old is that the 5-year-old is probably having trouble remembering some of the rules, and hasn’t learned all of the key ideas, like forks and skewers and pawn formations. But once you learn all those key ideas and get some practice with them, what else could there be to learn?”
Something I liked that Socratessa said:
“Uh, hi,” the woman said gingerly to Mr. Humman, when she saw him at the grocery. “I heard you had a bad experience today. I hope it didn’t crush your soul too much—or, uh, actually, I should say, uh, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t wanna.”
It would have been even better if Socratessa had said:
“Hi. I heard you had a bad experience today. Do you want to talk about it? I care about you and am interested in your experience.”
More generally, I wish Socratessa had been written with a little more depth of character (in particular: curiosity, sincerity). She sounds scared about the future and like she is looking for certainty and approval. I wonder what would have happened if she had expressed empathy for Mr. Humman after he shared he felt invalidated by Mr. Assi. I wonder what would have happened if they had that conversation about politics. In a different story, I can imagine her and Mr. Humman being friends.
It’s so interesting how everyone seems to have gotten different messages from this! I found this story helpful and wouldn’t cut out the length. I found I resonated most with Mr. Humman in terms of his values.
Some (of many) things I liked that Mr. Humman said:
Something I liked that Socratessa said:
It would have been even better if Socratessa had said:
More generally, I wish Socratessa had been written with a little more depth of character (in particular: curiosity, sincerity). She sounds scared about the future and like she is looking for certainty and approval. I wonder what would have happened if she had expressed empathy for Mr. Humman after he shared he felt invalidated by Mr. Assi. I wonder what would have happened if they had that conversation about politics. In a different story, I can imagine her and Mr. Humman being friends.