I'm NOT a Datapoint

I'm of the view that language matters.

In that vein, I've noticed a recent trend here to refer to one's personal experience as a datapoint, often in the third person. Eg 'I saw/did XXX - its a personal datapoint'.

I understand that this signals that that person is aware of themselves and that relaying a personal, anedotal experience is not the end of the story. It encourages others to remember that one viewpoint alone can be misleading. Great.

But to yourself, are not a datapoint. To others that may be the case, but not to yourself. As an individual, your experience is all you have. You may look at the objective world and what others do, and try to aggregate it and pattern-match it to make sense of it - and that's fine. But your own experience is indisputable.

I guess I'm saying that while other people presenting themselves as datapoints to be counted and collated is kind of handy for me on the receiving end, it also makes me wonder what these people think of themselves. Are these people unable to assume that when they relay a personal story others will mistake this in some way? Do they really think of themselves as datapoints only, with no humanity? Really, one can extend the metaphor of a human being like a computer too far!

It almost seems that other individuals are choosing to write their personal, individual, subjective experiences out of the story _as if_ they are objective. The reality is that this is a faked objectivity though, and serves no end. Of course, all our experiences are subjective and individual. We can talk about the objective world and others as sets of datapoints or that as if people are collections of 'things'. But lets not lose sight that this is just a helpful metaphor to help us navigate the world and that at a point it breaks down. If you want to level up in my view, you need to fully express your point of view or what you have experienced.

Shamelessly witness your reality brother and sister! :)