The BioGraffs Philosophy

A friend recently reviewed my website and called me out. She says I keep calling this method "storytelling" and that not only is it not clear what I mean by that, but where I am somewhat clear, it's insulting. I think she makes a fair point.

Most people don't think of their take on other people actions, and things that happen to them and around them, as "stories." Most people pretty much think that they have the inside scoop on what's going on. They think their interpretations are the truth. They think their perspective reflects reality. If I try to tell them that those are stories, what they hear is me calling them "just stories," as if I'm saying they are living in some fantasy world of their own creation.

Well, yeah.

But it's a little more nuanced than just that.

Our personal corners of reality are complicated and we have precious little verifiable information when it comes to questions about why other people do things, why events unfolded as they did, and even why we ourselves do things. There is much that is obscured in human behavior — I would even say, unknowable.

But we still have to act, based on our best guesses about what's going on. We construct theories from the evidence we have access to, and then act on those theories. We tell stories to ourselves about our reality so that we can act. In our minds, it's happening like: this person said this thing to me because x, y, and z and so I said this other thing, and then they did that thing because they wanted me to do this thing.

A lot of that is just a best guess on the other person's motivations and how limited knowlege of stuff going on. It's really the best we can do.

What's interesting is when you try to deconstruct those stories so you can get a good look at them. Slow down and really question the parts and ask yourself what your level of confidence is in your knowledge of those motivations, and what you might not be fully aware of.

That's what I think BioGraffs helps you do.

(This was not written with any input from AI)