Coffee and a chat

The longing we have to communicate cleanly and directly with people is always obstructed by qualifications and often with concern about how our messages will be received.

- John le Carre -

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I spent a little time on Hive today as always and while reading and responding to posts and comments a thought struck me; I would know or interact with none of these people were it not for the Hive blockchain. Other than my brother who uses the Hive blockchain also you'd all be complete and total strangers; I'd know nothing about you and you'd not know I exist either.

For a non-social-media oriented person it sometimes feels odd that I can reach across the world and into your lives and that you can do the same with me, it's not unwelcome though, and because I filter the information I release here it's not uncomfortable. I assume you do the same, not everything belongs on the blockchain or any other form of social media, but somewhere in there is a connection and here we all are spanning cultures, countries, age, gender, ideologies, opinions and other things together. It's kind of weird, but also feels right at times, when there's a genuine connection there.

I'm pretty sure, if you saw me on the street, you'd not walk over and say, "hi there, do you fancy a coffee and a chat with me?"

Who does that with a complete stranger? Ok, some maybe, but few of us I think, and I wonder what we might be missing out on by not doing so, who we might be missing out on, because we do not do that.

Would I say yes though? If you came up to me and said that, would I say, "sure thing, let's go and talk about our personal lives, thoughts and opinions over a cup of coffee despite being total strangers." Probably not.

With the omission of the coffee, that's what we're doing here though, over the interwebs and those interweb-carrying cables that span between countries and the space-contraptions that we upload and download our connection with. Is that connection any less meaningful? Aren't friendships formed here as they are in the real face-to-face world? Of course they are.

You don't know everything about me, no one does despite the fact some think they do, and I don't know everything about you either, but we know something and are learning more about each other the more we interact, those who choose to do so with depth, validity, character and personality I mean. The others, meh, they're just superfluous I guess, random people who come and go unremarked and unremembered, although that doesn't mean that deeper connection may not come with those in the future right?

All these things were spinning in my mind, along with the thought that none of us truly know how the other feels at any given point, something that can be very difficult to know from a distance.

People here see a comment, post or reaction in their own way, perceive it based only on what they know, or think they know, but is that the reality? Maybe, maybe not; we're connected but also disconnected by the interwebs. We can't read body language, the movements our bodies and faces make when we communicate verbally, and the keyboard doesn't always tell the whole story right? But we make do, and even though there's often miscommunication it's often worked out one way or the other between those with a more solid connection.

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I've got some questions for you.

Would you want to have coffee and a chat with me in the real world based on what you know from the blockchain? Do you think it would feel awkward and what do you think we'd talk about? Would the conversation flow or be disjointed considering there's no screen in between us to filter the words and body-language triggers? Maybe you'd just like to meet me so you can punch me in the face, that'd make for an interesting meeting. Is there someone you find interesting and engaging in the real world and think you'd like to have coffee and a chat with them but haven't? Why not?

Feel free to comment about these things or any topic-related comment (or non-topic-related if you like) as I'm keen to hear from you and to interact.