UN: ScielCandide | Video

[cache_coeur]

[The camera is fixed on a table, upon which sits a neat stack of cards –– black with gold foil in the shape of a sun and moon bisecting each other. The user’s hands pass over the deck and spreads it wide into an arc. Her hands are tanned, with two rings on her ring finger and one on her index finger, and she has so many colourful braided bracelets that some wind around her palm.

Her voice is pleasant, playful, French, a little theatrical:]

Bonsoir, mes amies!

Tonight and tonight only, I will tell your fortune with a single card. Tell me your name, and if you would like to hear about love, money, health or the soul.

If it moves you, you must repay me with an amusing anecdote about yourself.

Ready to play?

Comments

[restingstitchface]

Doesn't everyone? If I was eternally miserable, repeating the same patterns day after day, I think I'd go insane.

I've learned to welcome my mistakes. People make their own and cry about failure - but mistakes are important for growth. I think people have much to answer for making others believe the opposite.

[cache_coeur]

The card may speak to where you are now, but for many others, it might be a call to break the pattern they’ve been trapped in for too long.

Are you thinking about a specific person?

[restingstitchface]

Not at all. My statement was based on the negative traits of human behaviour. By which I mean I was making an observation based on years of research. Something of a bad habit, I'm afraid. But that's what happens when one's married to his work.

[cache_coeur]

Oh, it just sounded so cynical. How long have you been researching humans?

[restingstitchface]

Well, I would say for nearly two decades, now. I can't say it hasn't always been smooth sailing, but that comes with the territory. Not every patient is going to listen you have to say. But that's fine.

[1. Patients? He's a doctor. 2. That's fine because you can strap them to a medical gurney in a basement and... wait what?]

[cache_coeur]

Interesting. [She’s being polite; she has no idea what to make of this, but it’s like when Gustave starts talking about screw pumps or something along those lines. At least he’s passionate!] I don’t think I’ve ever considered that humanity as a whole shares any negative trait.

[restingstitchface]

[Really? Can he believe that?

But he looks the opposite of suspicious. He's more curious than anything.

Ah, but if people band together to exhibit positive behaviour, surely it stands to reason the opposite is true? The more negative actions are propagated by society, and not the individual, they are in turn reinforced as the acceptable way to, well, behave...

The more negativity is encouraged, the less consequences they are for acting strange. Because strange becomes the new normal. Reinforcement can be positive or negative. And both reinforcement and punishment are key to shaping human behaviour, be that en masse or simply just for one individual.

[Watch this nerd go!]

[cache_coeur]

[He talks about people like she tells her students about ant colonies. Each interchangeable, their behaviour programmatic, if x then y behaviour. It’s uglier on the other side, she thinks. A little… artless.]

Do you have an example of a negative trait you’re thinking of? Not to sound naïve but this is all very… removed from the reasons people do what they do.

[restingstitchface]

Certainly. Consider a person causing themselves harm to escape emotional pain. They might consume alcohol or indulge themselves with food. Such reduction in pressure encourages repetition because of the temporary relief from stress.

[He murmurs before continuing.]

Or consider lying. Should a lie succeed, the individual avoids facing the consequences of their actions, meaning those lies more likely to occur. People misrepresent the truth for personal reasons. But why?

Cw blunt mention of suicide

[cache_coeur]

[Pardon her for a moment while she tries to imagine what self-harm is obtained by eating. Huh? Whatever. Moving on, her voice crisp:]

Too black and white for me, personally. If they didn’t do anything to ease their pain, or distract themselves from it, they might just kill themselves. It takes more time to heal than most people can bear without a little indulgence.

[And, as much as defending lying makes her want to grit her teeth right now…]

Likewise, would you really want to live with people who are honest all the time? Sounds like a quick way to hurt feelings and cause arguments, or get hurt. I think we get by fine with lies, even if it can be equally unpleasant.

[restingstitchface]

[Black and white? He appreciates data seems so to those unable to interpret or extrapolate from it - but he can never deride what it promises. The fulfilment of his curiosity.]

Agreed. Lying is not entirely negative. Parents manipulate their children to influence them towards developing good behaviour. That little treat for doing something well? That's manipulation. Society accepts we can lie for good reasons, too. Little white lies...

[Honesty. Lying. No matter what a person chooses, their choices are still data.]

Though I appreciate we are approaching this from opposite angles. My understanding of human behaviour is probably different to yours. Perils of my work, I'm afraid.

[cache_coeur]

[Pleasantly:]

Oh, I understand completely, Doctor. I lack your education and experience. But thank you for sharing!