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> While some workers point-and-call more enthusiastically than others Yes, I have seen this. Rail workers are great at it, but in other places, it can get wors
by kartan 8y ago
> While some workers point-and-call more enthusiastically than others
Yes, I have seen this. Rail workers are great at it, but in other places, it can get worse. I saw a guy pointing to both sides of the sidewalk - to assure that it was free of people - before letting a truck get into a parking lot. His colleague will barely move the hands. It looked slightly awkward.
> Japanese commentators have theorized that Western employees feel “silly” performing the requisite gestures and calls.
I guess that this is what humans are bad at. We overvalue our awareness, and we put a lot of much weight on any act with social implications.
While I was at Fuji, I saw what it seemed a guy training alongside the train driver. He laughed time to time at his own movements. They both had a great time. So, even for Japanese, seems that the situation is slightly awkward.
- newsbinator 8y agoI wonder why we evolved to feel silly. You'd think the safety aspect of looking silly would outweigh the social aspect of doing things that cause mocking in others.
- jplayer01 8y agoWe evolved to overvalue the opinion of our peers. Back when we lived in tribes of 20-50, it was incredibly important to fit in and be accepted. It's maladaptive when the same mechanism is at work when doing something modern that is silly on an individual social level but incredibly important/beneficial on a rational one.
- carlmr 8y agoThe people that did a lot of silly looking things probably had a harder time finding partners for reproduction. So for something like safety with silliness to reproduce it would need a significant impact on our chance to survive. Looking at it this way workplace safety barely mattered until very recently. Before the big killers were the lack of food and vaccinations. It's only since society became as safe as it is today, that these smaller safety goals even seem to matter.
- sangnoir 8y ago> I wonder why we evolved to feel silly. I'm going to guess it's because you are doing something unexpected/unusual. Predictability of action is a great thing for social cohesion and safety. Actions that result in one feeling silly might be misinterpreted (are you being aggressive, did you get rabies, or otherwise lost your mind?)