Dreams, False Cognates, and Plugging in Gaps of Reality
Two guys were sitting in a casual Japanese restaurants. The waitress shows up at their table with their lunches in hand. "Sorry, the soup from one set and the rice from the other will come later," she noted apologetically. The two men did not seem to mind. They carry on chatting and eating whatever that was already served at their table. Almost done with their incomplete meals, and noting that the rice and soup have yet to arrive, they call over the waitress to ask. Embarrassed about her memory loss, she quickly ran back to the kitchen and brought out rice and soup to the table.
All seems to be well when the a youngish man dressed in restaurant attire walked over to the same server standing to the side, and in a loud voice, asked the waitress whether she confirmed that the rice and soup are indeed not served before and will be paid for separately. Without giving the waitress a chance to respond, he continued barking at her for her perceived negligence. When the two men were alerted to the situation and looked up from the meals, the youngish man, seemingly the floor manager, was already pulling up a chair next to their table. "Whats wrong with you?" He questioned with a stern voice and a poker face.
The two men began arguing back to the manager, noting that the rice and soup are indeed included in their orders. One of the men was so agitated that he started shouting at the manager, "the waitress did not do anything wrong, if fact, she was very professional in her handling of customers," periodically glancing at the waitress, still at the same location but now quietly sobbing with her head down. The man's voice became louder and louder as he justified both himself and the waitress, shocking the author to the progress of the whole incident. The author opened his eyes, and found himself at his bed. Yes, this was all a dream...
Confused? So is the author. What is most confusing is that this is perhaps the most vivid recalling of a dream the author has ever had in his life, despite the mundane nature of the story-line. Which brings to the topic of a recent academic research conducted, claiming that a person's memories are filled with "false cognates," or in layman's speech, manufactured content that never happened in real life. Yet, people seem to remember those so well that they do not at all doubt their truthfulness. In essence, people who claim to have above-average long-term memories may very well be lying most of the time, without themselves knowing.
Of course, the above described dream has clear logical fallacies that make its truthfulness highly doubtful, even years down the line. It certainly makes no sense for one rice and soup to be served later when one set of it is already served (two men, one already got soup, and the other already got rice). But the vivid long-term recalling (most dreams are forgotten 15 minutes after waking up), despite the obvious falsehood, can be explained by the resonance of its content with something in real life. It is as mentioned by the same research, false cognates are consistent with the truth, and thus used to "plug in" holes in memory.
And the resonance is most likely due to the main idea that can be conveyed by the false cognate in question, and not the actual story-line being similar to something that actually occurred. Indeed, if, say, the author is to tell this dream to youngsters decades later, the main thing to tell is not how weird it is that the restaurant ran out of rice and soup halfway through serving an order, but how the reaction of the man that woke him up is highly consistent with his own personal beliefs: the need to understand the whole picture before jumping to hasty conclusions and the need to treat people, no matter in what situation, with a degree of polite respect.
Yet, for the story to be told in such a way later on, it is assumed that the same principles that the person holds today that enabled sustained memory of the false cognate will retain themselves as the primary driver of that person;s characters after all those years. Perhaps, the cited academic research could have gone a step further and analyzed the backgrounds of those people claiming to having strong long-term memory. What the researchers will find ought to be a group of people who has taken up consistent set of beliefs and personal habits, even if the person has shifted their livelihoods from place to place and industry to industry.
In conclusion, though, the sociological implications of "false cognate" idea may be much more than the psychological one originally explored by the research. Transcending beyond an individual's illogical dream, it places rather awkward meaning for societies and polities in general. To justify certain "realities" of policy-making and strategic concerns, any country or community can utilize these false cognates, both deliberately and unintentionally, to justify their positions and actions. The impossibility to debunk at least some of these false cognates by others will lead to conflicts much more dangerous than an unpaid double-serving of rice and soup...
All seems to be well when the a youngish man dressed in restaurant attire walked over to the same server standing to the side, and in a loud voice, asked the waitress whether she confirmed that the rice and soup are indeed not served before and will be paid for separately. Without giving the waitress a chance to respond, he continued barking at her for her perceived negligence. When the two men were alerted to the situation and looked up from the meals, the youngish man, seemingly the floor manager, was already pulling up a chair next to their table. "Whats wrong with you?" He questioned with a stern voice and a poker face.
The two men began arguing back to the manager, noting that the rice and soup are indeed included in their orders. One of the men was so agitated that he started shouting at the manager, "the waitress did not do anything wrong, if fact, she was very professional in her handling of customers," periodically glancing at the waitress, still at the same location but now quietly sobbing with her head down. The man's voice became louder and louder as he justified both himself and the waitress, shocking the author to the progress of the whole incident. The author opened his eyes, and found himself at his bed. Yes, this was all a dream...
Confused? So is the author. What is most confusing is that this is perhaps the most vivid recalling of a dream the author has ever had in his life, despite the mundane nature of the story-line. Which brings to the topic of a recent academic research conducted, claiming that a person's memories are filled with "false cognates," or in layman's speech, manufactured content that never happened in real life. Yet, people seem to remember those so well that they do not at all doubt their truthfulness. In essence, people who claim to have above-average long-term memories may very well be lying most of the time, without themselves knowing.
Of course, the above described dream has clear logical fallacies that make its truthfulness highly doubtful, even years down the line. It certainly makes no sense for one rice and soup to be served later when one set of it is already served (two men, one already got soup, and the other already got rice). But the vivid long-term recalling (most dreams are forgotten 15 minutes after waking up), despite the obvious falsehood, can be explained by the resonance of its content with something in real life. It is as mentioned by the same research, false cognates are consistent with the truth, and thus used to "plug in" holes in memory.
And the resonance is most likely due to the main idea that can be conveyed by the false cognate in question, and not the actual story-line being similar to something that actually occurred. Indeed, if, say, the author is to tell this dream to youngsters decades later, the main thing to tell is not how weird it is that the restaurant ran out of rice and soup halfway through serving an order, but how the reaction of the man that woke him up is highly consistent with his own personal beliefs: the need to understand the whole picture before jumping to hasty conclusions and the need to treat people, no matter in what situation, with a degree of polite respect.
Yet, for the story to be told in such a way later on, it is assumed that the same principles that the person holds today that enabled sustained memory of the false cognate will retain themselves as the primary driver of that person;s characters after all those years. Perhaps, the cited academic research could have gone a step further and analyzed the backgrounds of those people claiming to having strong long-term memory. What the researchers will find ought to be a group of people who has taken up consistent set of beliefs and personal habits, even if the person has shifted their livelihoods from place to place and industry to industry.
In conclusion, though, the sociological implications of "false cognate" idea may be much more than the psychological one originally explored by the research. Transcending beyond an individual's illogical dream, it places rather awkward meaning for societies and polities in general. To justify certain "realities" of policy-making and strategic concerns, any country or community can utilize these false cognates, both deliberately and unintentionally, to justify their positions and actions. The impossibility to debunk at least some of these false cognates by others will lead to conflicts much more dangerous than an unpaid double-serving of rice and soup...
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