The only true human binary I'm aware of is living/dead. I watched my father take his last breath four days ago. Trust me; there is a line he crossed that I could not follow nor imagine.
To your final request I respond, yes, I see it too. You are not an AI. You are a living "I". I know this because even the parasocial relationship I enjoy when reading your posts lifts my spirits, my inner sense of me expands. Your words make me feel; among other emotions they make feel happy, not because the words themselves elicit that emotion, but because the human connection I feel with the author elicits that joy.
"Hey, lookie there", I feel to myself, when I read a post like yours, "that voice understands me. That person must be like me." And for 6 minutes as I read your thoughts loneliness exhales, well-being inhales.
Thank you, wenji, for posting this. I stand taller, walk lighter, and hold my head higher for longer today because of it.
oh wow thank you so much for this comment. genuinely it means so much to me that my writing can provide a sense of relatability/understanding and it's genuinely so amazing to me that there are other people out there who share similar feelings. i can't thank you enough for writing all this. thank you so much for being here :)
Coming back here after I've read the book and I can't thank you enough for recommending it. About halfway through I had to go back and reread from the start so I could write down specific page numbers in my notes app so I can properly annotate it when I buy my own copy. It feels almost silly to say but it almost feels fated for me to read this book haha + gon and yunjae's relationship vaguely reminded me of thoroughbreds
so glad i could help fate & so happy you updated me i have so much to say about the characters! i hope you enjoy the end too - gon x yunjae are both so misunderstood because we’re so used to how ‘it should look’ we arent curious enough about our differences. we all crave community & connection all the same x
just read the description on goodreads and almost laughed out loud at how coincidentally this matches up with some of my life. will definitely be checking it out, thank you so much for the recommendation!
Interesting piece. Reminds me of Sartre and the issue of essentialism. You can trace this back through human history (and into prehistory) where we altered from a state-of-nature being into a state-of-society being. With the advent of Open Society (Karl Popper) came the creation of individualism and the responsibility of freedom. I would say that pretty much all societal anxieties are a result of our harking back to a state-of-nature where freedom was absent, pulled taut between our combined denial of personal freedom and our wish to attain it simultaneously.
The metaphor of the 'robot-boy' is a plea for a return to the state-of-nature, where all is dictated rather than be burdened with the flesh of responsibility and our inner-creative force (freedom).
btw I used to imagine I was the only human alive and that everyone around me were aliens pretending to be human, so that they could study me.
i think it’s still important to acknowledge a certain degree of nature vs nurture in the argument because while i’m of the belief it’s most likely a 80-20 ratio in terms of nurture to nature being present in how each person turns out, the 20% by nature is not negligible. but i do think a lot of modern day internal battles do stem from this.
What I meant by state-of-nature is the condition of human lives prior to the advent of civilized society - as per Popper's Closed Society vs Open Society.
Closed Society is the kind of society in which people's positions are unquestioned (the Caste system is an example of this) as opposed to Open Society where individualism leads to people defined their place in society rather than having it dictated to them by rigid unquestioned tradition.
I know, I'm just adding on that I don't believe all of this stems from the concept of closed vs open society and that some of the issues I am trying to present are related to being born a certain way (nature opposed to nurture) both closed/open society fall under nurture as it places greater blame on our outside circumstances; I am saying this is not the entire truth.
Yeah, of course. The nature nurture dichotomy is a false one. There is no boundary between a person and the environment they live in. They are one and the same. It is just a convenient distinction some take too seriously. That said, we are predisposed genetically, but the wiggle room is substantial.
for some reason, this hit me with a wave of afterthoughts simmering in the background (and to me that's what a great write-up does to you). correct me if i’m wrong, but there’s a powerful “earthlings” vibe in its undertone. it's almost like you’re re-mapping your own path to being humane in a way that feels in a way, possibly tender, stitching together one quiet commonality after another, while helping your inner child hold the spoon right, to its share of the world.
Yes!!! Sayaka Murata is definitely one of my biggest inspirations so I'm happy to hear abt the "Earthlings" vibe. I don't typically like to get into the "what I meant" bc I like hearing different interpretations and I think sometimes putting out an authors statement makes it harder to do that but I did like your interpretation of this :)
Ah, I’m so glad to have picked up on the inspiration, right. It’s amazing how an author’s influence can seep into the fabric of a piece without directly announcing itself, like a hidden thread that reveals itself only to those who’ve also felt its pull. And yes, I completely get your take on leaving interpretations open. I feel, it gives each reader a little piece of authorship too, doesn’t it? Thank you for being so open to my perspective; it makes the journey of reading and connecting that much richer (:
this is my favourite line: "I wonder why it is so hard for me to romanticize and realize it is because I am trying to rewrite, instead." beautiful piece, thank you for sharing :')
" When I say “I thought I was built in a lab”, I mean there is a line drawn between me and you. When I say “tell me how to be human”, I mean please say you see it, too. " THIS. this whole sentence. To be put in words for the thoughts that I question myself with. Thank you for sharing this with us
I had forgotten about a similar memory that I used to tell. This is has made me relive those feelings and yet offer a sense of comfort that I am not alone in feeling distanced from people. Absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing this!
Thank you so much! And it's always amazing to me how some of the memories I thought made me very different are actually experienced (or adjacent to) by other people :)
I getcha, hon. The writer Bret Harte comes to mind. He was able to capture dialects in his writing so well because he felt like he was looking in on humanity from the outside.
The only true human binary I'm aware of is living/dead. I watched my father take his last breath four days ago. Trust me; there is a line he crossed that I could not follow nor imagine.
To your final request I respond, yes, I see it too. You are not an AI. You are a living "I". I know this because even the parasocial relationship I enjoy when reading your posts lifts my spirits, my inner sense of me expands. Your words make me feel; among other emotions they make feel happy, not because the words themselves elicit that emotion, but because the human connection I feel with the author elicits that joy.
"Hey, lookie there", I feel to myself, when I read a post like yours, "that voice understands me. That person must be like me." And for 6 minutes as I read your thoughts loneliness exhales, well-being inhales.
Thank you, wenji, for posting this. I stand taller, walk lighter, and hold my head higher for longer today because of it.
oh wow thank you so much for this comment. genuinely it means so much to me that my writing can provide a sense of relatability/understanding and it's genuinely so amazing to me that there are other people out there who share similar feelings. i can't thank you enough for writing all this. thank you so much for being here :)
this sort of reminded me of a book called Almond you might enjoy by Sohn Won-pyung
Coming back here after I've read the book and I can't thank you enough for recommending it. About halfway through I had to go back and reread from the start so I could write down specific page numbers in my notes app so I can properly annotate it when I buy my own copy. It feels almost silly to say but it almost feels fated for me to read this book haha + gon and yunjae's relationship vaguely reminded me of thoroughbreds
so glad i could help fate & so happy you updated me i have so much to say about the characters! i hope you enjoy the end too - gon x yunjae are both so misunderstood because we’re so used to how ‘it should look’ we arent curious enough about our differences. we all crave community & connection all the same x
and i think thats what i got from your writing
I'm gonna cry I'm so glad <333 tysm this means the world to me
just read the description on goodreads and almost laughed out loud at how coincidentally this matches up with some of my life. will definitely be checking it out, thank you so much for the recommendation!
also big fleabag energy if you havent seen that
i want to chew on ur brain and maybe ill be
as good as you
haha thank you (although I don't think my brain would taste very good probably like plastic tbh)
Interesting piece. Reminds me of Sartre and the issue of essentialism. You can trace this back through human history (and into prehistory) where we altered from a state-of-nature being into a state-of-society being. With the advent of Open Society (Karl Popper) came the creation of individualism and the responsibility of freedom. I would say that pretty much all societal anxieties are a result of our harking back to a state-of-nature where freedom was absent, pulled taut between our combined denial of personal freedom and our wish to attain it simultaneously.
The metaphor of the 'robot-boy' is a plea for a return to the state-of-nature, where all is dictated rather than be burdened with the flesh of responsibility and our inner-creative force (freedom).
btw I used to imagine I was the only human alive and that everyone around me were aliens pretending to be human, so that they could study me.
i think it’s still important to acknowledge a certain degree of nature vs nurture in the argument because while i’m of the belief it’s most likely a 80-20 ratio in terms of nurture to nature being present in how each person turns out, the 20% by nature is not negligible. but i do think a lot of modern day internal battles do stem from this.
What I meant by state-of-nature is the condition of human lives prior to the advent of civilized society - as per Popper's Closed Society vs Open Society.
Closed Society is the kind of society in which people's positions are unquestioned (the Caste system is an example of this) as opposed to Open Society where individualism leads to people defined their place in society rather than having it dictated to them by rigid unquestioned tradition.
I know, I'm just adding on that I don't believe all of this stems from the concept of closed vs open society and that some of the issues I am trying to present are related to being born a certain way (nature opposed to nurture) both closed/open society fall under nurture as it places greater blame on our outside circumstances; I am saying this is not the entire truth.
Yeah, of course. The nature nurture dichotomy is a false one. There is no boundary between a person and the environment they live in. They are one and the same. It is just a convenient distinction some take too seriously. That said, we are predisposed genetically, but the wiggle room is substantial.
please never put the pen or pencil or keyboard down
I write all my essays using speech to text (thank you so much 🫶)
so so so incredible, as always <333
thank u so so much <3
for some reason, this hit me with a wave of afterthoughts simmering in the background (and to me that's what a great write-up does to you). correct me if i’m wrong, but there’s a powerful “earthlings” vibe in its undertone. it's almost like you’re re-mapping your own path to being humane in a way that feels in a way, possibly tender, stitching together one quiet commonality after another, while helping your inner child hold the spoon right, to its share of the world.
Yes!!! Sayaka Murata is definitely one of my biggest inspirations so I'm happy to hear abt the "Earthlings" vibe. I don't typically like to get into the "what I meant" bc I like hearing different interpretations and I think sometimes putting out an authors statement makes it harder to do that but I did like your interpretation of this :)
Ah, I’m so glad to have picked up on the inspiration, right. It’s amazing how an author’s influence can seep into the fabric of a piece without directly announcing itself, like a hidden thread that reveals itself only to those who’ve also felt its pull. And yes, I completely get your take on leaving interpretations open. I feel, it gives each reader a little piece of authorship too, doesn’t it? Thank you for being so open to my perspective; it makes the journey of reading and connecting that much richer (:
i see it too
🫶💕
this is my favourite line: "I wonder why it is so hard for me to romanticize and realize it is because I am trying to rewrite, instead." beautiful piece, thank you for sharing :')
Thank you so much for reading <3
This is amazing, kind of reminds me of no longer human but in a more modern sense
thank you!!
" When I say “I thought I was built in a lab”, I mean there is a line drawn between me and you. When I say “tell me how to be human”, I mean please say you see it, too. " THIS. this whole sentence. To be put in words for the thoughts that I question myself with. Thank you for sharing this with us
Thank you so much for reading :) I'm glad this resonated so much !!
everything you write is raw and painfully honest and utterly beautiful.
thank you 🥹 that means so much especially coming from you
I had forgotten about a similar memory that I used to tell. This is has made me relive those feelings and yet offer a sense of comfort that I am not alone in feeling distanced from people. Absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing this!
Thank you so much! And it's always amazing to me how some of the memories I thought made me very different are actually experienced (or adjacent to) by other people :)
this was so so so beautiful i cannot believe
Thank you so much <3
I getcha, hon. The writer Bret Harte comes to mind. He was able to capture dialects in his writing so well because he felt like he was looking in on humanity from the outside.
Thank you! I'll be sure to check him out :)
u write so hauntingly beautiful!
thank you so much!!!