Introduction

Our understanding of one another can only ever approximate true comprehension. We cannot inhabit each other’s consciousness to experience the world as the other does. Knowing that no one will ever truly understand you, how does that influence your experiences? We must dedicate time to learning each other’s stories and remain open-minded to align our understanding as closely as possible. This is already a challenge in our physical lives, but what happens in the digital realm? Our data is often static, lacking context, and fails to fully capture understanding, yet if we rely on it, we must strive to make it more representative.

The Nature of Perception: A Case of colour

Consider the question: What colour is that? Is the “red” colour I see, the same as the “red” colour you see? Anyone who has pondered this deeply may find their sense of reality begins to unravel. This question is explored in this video by VSauce., which delves into the subject.

“Red” is the name given to a particular colour within our language and culture. If you mix red with a small amount of white, the resulting colour is what we typically call “pink.” Most people in the Western world would recognize this colour as pink, despite it being just a lighter shade of red. In contrast, when green is mixed with white, people might refer to it as lime green, mint green, or another descriptive variant, but “pink” remains distinct from “red” in our cultural understanding. Scientifically speaking, pink does not exist on the spectrum of colours, yet it is a recognized colour in our language and culture. We can further describe pink in various ways (deep pink, rose pink, and so on) just as we can describe variants of spectral colours like red and blue with different names, such as azure, cyan, and magenta. This cultural influence is so strong that if you show someone from the West the colour pink, they will almost always identify it as “pink” rather than “light red,” which is far less common for shades of green or blue.

Now, consider the colour red again. You perceive it as red, or so you think. But how much can you trust your mind’s interpretation? Suppose I am colour blind or have a neurological difference that causes me to perceive that wavelength as more yellow. In this case, we would never know that our experiences of “red” differ. You would see red and call it red; I would see yellow but also call it red. Even though our experiences are fundamentally different, language keeps us synchronised. The divergence in our experiences becomes irrelevant in communication, as we have agreed to label these different perceptions with the same term. Thus, when you point to the colour red and say “red,” I can concur.

Now imagine I learned to call red “red,” but during my upbringing, I mistakenly learned to describe the colour red with the word “yellow.” If I have navigated life believing that the colour red is called yellow, our communication is out of sync despite our shared experience. When I see a red traffic light and say “the light is yellow,” the miscommunication could lead to disastrous consequences, such as a car accident.

Colour Constancy and Perception

Colour constancy is the phenomenon whereby our brains fill in what we expect the colour to be based on experience. For example, there are no red pixels in the image below:

See this article for more: There’s Not a Single Red Pixel in This Image

There is also evidence suggesting that sex can influence colour perception. Studies have found that men and women may perceive shades differently, possibly due to evolutionary factors that led to distinct psychological adaptations. For instance, in experimentation men and women assigned different shades to the same objects, and the reason for this appears to support the idea that each sex evolved unique visual abilities tailored to their prehistoric roles. National Geographic has explored this topic in detail.

Imagine the potential difficulty describing colour experiences between different sexes of distinct and distant cultures having experienced different colour sets!

The Complexity of Human Experience

Let us now consider a more complex scenario than just wavelength interpretation, introducing humanistic qualities.

Imagine you and I are looking at a flower.

To me, this flower is the same species as the one my first girlfriend gave me when I was deeply in love and experiencing love for the first time. This flower is associated with a powerful, joyful memory, and seeing it now, a decade later, fills me with nostalgia and happiness.

In contrast, you associate this flower with your mother’s funeral. It was the flower chosen by the funeral service, and while you had encountered this species before, its most significant presence in your life was as it lay on your mother’s casket. This flower brings back memories of loss, grief, and the frailty of life.

If we were to meet in a place where this flower grows abundantly, our mindsets would be worlds apart, shaped by these differing experiences. We might converse without acknowledging our memories of the flower, but these memories would influence everything we say. I might speak enthusiastically, while you might respond cautiously. We would part ways, never realising that our experiences were entirely different. Even if we discussed our memories involving the flower, our present conscious experiences would still differ, and this time, we would be aware of that difference.

Sex, gender, and upbringing also play a role in shaping our experiences. For instance, consider the concept of “Schrödinger’s Rapist," which suggests that some women might, by default, worry about whether a man they meet could harass or assault them—a concern born from societal experiences. This thought process, though perhaps uncomfortable or debatable, could significantly affect how women experience new encounters. Being male, I cannot fully comprehend this, but I certainly do not consider the possibility that a woman might harass me when I meet her. A more evident example is racial profiling, where black people often experience more frequent harassment by police compared to white people.

Regardless of the examples, the point remains that our understanding of one another can only converge through communication and time. The longer we know someone and the more honest and open we are, the better we can predict their actions, intentions, and reactions. Our understanding of any situation is informed not only by the situation itself but by our entire life history; our culture, heritage, ancestors, relationships, and everything that has occurred throughout evolution and societal development, leading to the current moment. This understanding is unique to each individual, and we can never fully know each other’s interpretation of it. The best we can do is to share our stories as accurately as possible, using the best language available to convey the key points and emotions to others.

Challenges in the Digital World

If we struggle to understand our connections in the physical world, how can we expect to do so in the digital world?

In the realm of data, we often neglect the stories behind the numbers. Databases frequently represent mere snapshots of situations, devoid of the history that shaped them. When we take a snapshot, we lose sight of the changes, developments, additions, and subtractions that led to that moment. As our reliance on data grows, can we afford to erase its history? Some technologies, like Git, attempt to retain a history of changes, while time series databases capture the dynamism of causation. However, it is crucial to consider situations where the story behind the data is as important as the data itself.

Take political data, for example. We cannot necessarily trust data that records voting patterns in the last election to model a person’s entire political views. If someone fluctuates between supporting Republicans and Liberals, knowing that they voted Republican in the last election tells us little beyond their choice on that day. If we could trace the story of how they came to that decision, whether due to a recent move to a predominantly Republican area or a gradual shift in political views for example, we could better respond to their opinions and needs. Perhaps they voted Republican merely to fit in with their new community, or maybe their environment has slowly led them to form new political alliances.

We must remain mindful of the use cases we address. The Cambridge Analytica Scandal demonstrated the dangers of manipulating data in this way, and concerns about privacy, and ideas such as the right to be forgotten, must also be considered.

The Need for Dynamic Data Narratives

It is time to start thinking about dynamic ways to tell the stories behind data, ensuring that the purpose of those stories remains true without being overwhelmed by irrelevant information. At the same time, we must respect people’s privacy and consider the ethical implications of data manipulation. How to achieve this remains an open question… perhaps one that artificial intelligence might help us answer in the future.