But think: WHY do we communicate?
*
We're doing it now.
*
It's so we can a _glimpse_ into "Other Minds" and share ours
with others.
*
There's different degrees of understanding but dang, if we were
*THAT ISOLATED* for real - then we wouldn't be here
COMMUNICATING.
*
Perfect? No. But it's something. I worked with disabled kids
when I was in my early 20s. Volunteered for a local cerebral
palsy center full time.
*
You don't know isolated until your body doesn't cooperate at all
and yet your brain is entirely intact. I only know through
empathy and imagination what it must be like, but I helped a boy
learn how to use a computer (I installed Tandy Deskmate on all
their computers.. this is how long ago it was) - and how to type
over a period of a few months.
*
Pull your arm up to your chest. Both of them. Push your fingers
down as if you're going into a neverending spasm. Keep it in
that spasming position and hunch your body forward to type while
shaking.
*
You can do it, but it's hard.
*
But.. you can unfold your arms. They can't.
*
After showing him how to type, I let him be. Over a period of an
8 hours day, he typed a two paragraph, perfectly spelled,
perfect grammar letter to his Mom, thanking her for all she's
done for him.
*
He never typed before that. He never WROTE before that. He
communicated by large boards with words already on them that he
hunched over to point at.
*
But he knew how to spell, grammar, etc. I didn't help.
*
He was 20 years old. _THAT'S_ isolated. And yet, he was happy
enough.
*
Can you get in the mind of someone else? Yes you can up to a
point, and they can get into yours. It's communication. That's
why we do it.
