"How much of what is human is alien to any one of us."
B. Tuchman
What do I mean by reality, to begin at the beginning. I explain by stating the position that there is 'something' out there which we vaguely perceive by the linguistic ordering of sensory data into mental models which 'correspond' at significance with the perceived behavior of that something over time.
A mental model is a personal static picture of a dynamic real that is derived from reproducible sensory observations of the behavior of that real and from a priori concepts. The real is in motion. Reality to the individual English speaker moves from static state to static state. The Hopi language, for one, models that dynamism in ways we don't.
These mental models, however mathematical, in whatever language, inform our constructed personal psychological envelopes, our realities. A number, uninterpreted, is just ink, or pixels. It means nothing.
A person, situation, or behavior that is nonreferent to one's personal envelope is, by definition, 'alien' to one. Since these envelopes are eccentric and constructed an 'alien' person is not necessarily 'alienated'. Alienation reduces to behavior inimical to any personal envelope as judged by mental health professionals on reproducible evidence.
Innovation deals, therefore, in the alien and requires the construction of new envelopes, a difficult and lengthy process. Innovation is not alienated but may lead to alienated behavior by persons whose realities have been shattered by the possibilities of new technology. That smartphone has a social cost.
Do Well and Be Well.
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