In a random conversation with a person mention that you just visited London (or insert your favorite village here). The person would immediately start emptying his memory and sensory database tagged with “London”. He would commence telling you about his trip there in 1995, how he ate at the restaurant on such and such corner, what he liked or disliked about the place, etc. Nowhere in this interaction will be there a room for a question or an interest about your experience with London, even if you lived in London for 20 years.
- People live in the bubble of their own sensory universe – I get that.
- People get stuck on the calcified formulas – I get that.
- People are only interested in themselves – I get that too.
But there is far more pernicious outcome to this interaction. As I wrote in To Exchange or not to Exchange: That is the Question this signals that there will be no trade, no exchange, no business. This is really the most devastating signal that the person declares, he will do no business with you, he shuts the door to his shop and lets you watch him from an outside window. And this is a 99.9% of all conversations, especially in this culture.
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