Consciousness and Marketing

The Australian philosopher David Chalmers gave an interesting TED talk a few years ago in which he pondered the “mystery” of consciousness, or conscious awareness.

“You have a movie playing inside your head,” he told his audience at the beginning of the talk, “an amazing multi-track movie.”

Conscious awareness: an amazing three-dimensional (3D) movie beyond anything James Cameron could have done in his magnificent film Avatar.

In addition to depth and sounds it has smells and tastes and touch. The soft cushiony feeling of the chair you’re nestled comfortably in; the cat purring warmly in your lap as you pet her smooth fur; the aftertaste of that last drop of coffee you just drank.

Somehow our brain does this. Or at least sets the conditions.

No one really understands how.

Within that 3D movie is “our” world — yours, mine, everybody’s. Not just our surroundings but our thoughts about them: our feelings, our desires, our hopes, our fears. Problems encountered and thoughts towards solving them. Or frustrations about them. Our self-talk, The running dialogue we carry around in our heads: helpful or harmful.

We don’t need to worry about Chalmers’ philosophical ruminations here (although I for one find them extremely interesting!).

All we need do is note the reality of something central to all our lives: this 3D movie with us every waking moment, in which we’re the “central character.” Everyone’s movie has its unique plot points, because we want different things (within limits), make different choices, and what we want is of paramount importance to us.

Our centrality is an illusion, of course. There is no “center.”

Not in a world of billions of people. And therefore billions of 3D movies all playing at once!

Be this as it may, our experience is what it is!

What we’ve learned is that we obtain more of what we want if we help others solve their problems and get what they want.

Dale Carnegie 101.

So in pursuing our goals, we set about to connect with others and learn about their goals.

Find out what’s actually going on in their movies.

Whether by getting them to talk about them if they’re willing, or just by observing. Maybe gathering data about them.

It’s best to connect on a personal level, I’ve concluded. This can start by recognizing the reality of that other person’s movie. Yours is playing continually while you’re awake. Just like mine is doing.

Whatever visible differences we face (ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, politics, income level, etc.), we’re all more alike than we are different in this respect.

We’re all inside our movies as we make our way through a world where millions of other movies are playing — just out of sight!

Because no one really sees anyone else’s movie. Not really.

No one really hears another’s self-talk, their encounters with private plot points, the problems, the losses, the occasional grief, etc. I don’t see your memories of bad experiences, your setbacks, your present struggles, your hopes, your dreams deferred or abandoned. Unless you tell me.

And you can’t see mine.

Good, clear writing — rich in color, crisp with precision, abundant in detail — can help. But it doesn’t get you inside the other person’s head.

Think about that.

This doesn’t mean that powerful, meaningful interactions with others are impossible. Far from it!

If the Good Lord put us inside these private movies, He also gave us tools to transcend them with language, art, music, and gesture.

That’s how interactions happen. And then, once we think about these things, go to the next level.

Remembering that 3D movie not communicated should help us all be more patient with others.

To cite a somewhat clichéd example — it works! — a guy cuts me off in traffic.

My first instinct is to get annoyed, of course. And lay on my horn. The nerve of that clown!

But wait a minute!

I don’t know what’s going on in his head, what scenes are playing in his movie, determining his immediate priorities and choices.

Maybe he’s just late for work.

Maybe he’s argued with his wife over breakfast, and his memory of the fight has fouled his mood.

Maybe he has a son or daughter with a substance abuse problem!

Or maybe he’s rushing to the hospital to see a dying relative for the last time!

Some of these may be stretches. But I’m in no position to know.

And it’s nothing I can control, anyway.

A rational perspective on events would therefore counsel: be patient. Focus on what you can control, which is your response to what just happened.

Epictetus 101.

I’ve concluded that viewing people this way — seeing them as central characters in their own, private 3D movies  —  could go at least part of the way towards understanding them: their needs, wants, fears, and deep desires.

And motivating us to learn their problems if they will allow it, and learn what might help them solve those problems.

Meet those needs and wants. Alleviate those fears. Satisfy those deep desires.

Or at least, where possible, open the doors of communication language affords.

With your boss, the company president ... or the security man at the front gate of your building, or the woman you barely see who quietly polishes the tiled floors you walk on to get there.

With the harried waiter or waitress or store clerk … or the female voice at the other end of that annoying telemarketing call.

With the bearded guy in the MAGA hat, or that woman with the black clothes, tattoos, and purple hair who just tried to stare him down.

I imagine that if we all suddenly realized that every one of these people, and all others besides, are going through life inside their movies we can’t see …

… and acted accordingly …

… we’d have a different world!

Maybe a better world!  

Would we not?

“Weren’t you going to say something about marketing?” some of you will remind me. “It’s in your title. You haven’t mentioned marketing.”

You’re right. I didn’t.