I heard something today about the numerous complexities and variables involved between two people as they are conversing. The person was talking about these complexities with regard to humans interacting with computers and artificial intelligence. What he said was simple, yet thought provoking for me, so I thought I would share.

It is extremely difficult to quantify "the feeling of how complex it is to sit across a table from someone and communicate with body language and tone and rhythm and all of these things. What happens when those conversations are working out well is that we are willing to move conversation in ways that allows us to be sort of perpetually startling, to one another. You learn someone through these small surprises."

I commented a day or two ago on someones post that I liked. I said when talking in a group setting I like to call attention to myself by saying stuff that is humorous or shocking. When thinking about good conversations I have had with a woman, one on one, I am very opinionated. When I say something, I want a reaction. The above quote, which I quickly wrote down so it may not be exactly verbatim, really struck a chord with me as something I have been doing naturally. It was cool to hear someone else say this, and say it better then I could. I would have never described a good conversation as one that is "perpetually startling" but it makes sense.

I heard this quote from a radiolab podcast.