Comments on Chapter Three

"Understanding Other People's Stories" was a bit disconcerting, but as I think about what Schank is proposing, it makes perfect sense. Essentially it seems people really can't understand other people's stories - at least not with any reliability. For many reasons, people cannot listen objectively. Either they are only hearing part of what is being said because their brain is engaged in trying to come up with a matching story, or they hear only what interests them, or they have no way to match the story to their own experience so they can't relate to it, or their perspective is different because of the stories they match to it - and on and on. In my opinion, there is even more that makes understanding improbable. External circumstances were not addressed in this Chapter. A person's state of mind, time of day, physical comfort level, outside distractions, etc. all play a part in how much is understood. The good news from this chapter seems to be that if a person is to understand anything, it is understood best when communicated in story form. We seem to be able to catalog and recall stories better than pure information. Last night I had dinner with a friend. We started a conversation about the possible future of Jonesborough. Somehow the visions we both had of Jonesborough's potential were formed around stories we remembered from our past. Those stories did not jibe - one with the other - and I remember being frustrated that I could not adequately communicate my vision the way I saw it and as a result, that vision was being misinterpreted. After reading this chapter, I began to wonder what my friend's vision was - quite frankly, I did not pay as much attention to hers because I was trying desperately to clarify my own. Schank was right! Again - I look forward to answers or techniques to apply for future reference.