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Check our approach for more section-specific work!
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✉️ Write to us!
🗓️ Let’s speak!
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This playlist has all the companion songs to our interaction thesis. Start reading here!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4zOOQ_t6n6HOkVPKFI0h0gH4zt8yPIWL
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If your day job is mainly to pay bills to survive, and if you want to start taking out some time to work on things that you love and that make sense to you, do reach out to us. We would love to collaborate with you!
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The idea of boundaries is our alternative to labels / identities - while labels are usually externally applied and defined, and very often rigid and resistant to change, we like to understand boundaries as dynamic entities, as unique and alive as the things they contain.
My personal boundary is that which contains everything that is me - it is the sphere of experience that is uniquely available to me. Specifically, my boundary is characterized by the density of communication inside it; viz: the various parts of me (whether physiological or psychological) can communicate with each other much more easily than I can communicate with someone else.
Any individual, of course, lies inside several other boundaries as well - one’s housemates, family, friends, community, religion, and work-team - all represent groups that have their own boundaries which define individual experience in many ways. It is important to note here that communication within a boundary should be understood to include not only the active sharing of information, but also other forms of shared context such as common practices and belief systems.
Understanding boundaries and identity in terms of shared context is a crucial step as it allows us to redraw boundaries by working on communication - we believe this is a significant step to understanding ourselves better and working well with others.
📖 **Start reading our interaction thesis here**
Based on the description of boundaries above, “self” is the entirety of my experience within my boundary. My choices, agency, feelings, whom I choose to engage with, etc. — all are contained in the space I have delineated for myself. (I picture this as a me holding a giant chalk and drawing a shaded blob around myself in space, surrounded by stars.)
Like I have, I am aware that everyone else also has created their own boundaries. This awareness is called “sonder” — like we are experiencing an entire unique life within ourselves, so are others.
This section explores all aspects of our work related to “self” or “sonder” (based on whom you are picturing while reading). It contains pieces of self-reflection, stories of people, and details of our current work!
📜 Find out about our work here
There are many aspects of our lives which involve sharing boundaries with others - at the very basic level, we all participate in various common social practices, like using money or the same calendar. At other scales, we may also be part of several groups of different types - religions, countries, families, businesses, and teams within businesses, are all examples of such groups. In fact, all of society, indeed - all of nature - may be viewed as a bunch of intersecting boundaries!
For an individual, what this means is that the act of communication with another person is essentially a translation from their personal context to a context that they share with the other person. In fact, we believe that it is through the act and specific form of this communication that the shared context between the two individuals is formed and sustained!
Our work in this area seeks to understand communication and collaboration better, both between individuals, and between groups of individuals. Specifically, we are focused on developing tools and methodologies that enable better communication / collaboration 🙃