
…r happens without conscious intention. Most of our intimate connections are rife with expectations. Society does not condition us to create random intimacy with strangers, but only with people who fulfill certain roles in our lives — partners, friends, family. These predefined roles also all come with pre-defined expectations. So, we forget to stay curious and allow interactions to play out. Often, the gap between what we expect from them and how they fulfill these roles is what causes the gap in intimacy. People can sense when you have an agenda and it detracts from their ability to open up to you.
This reality lead to some pretty remarkable questions: could a poor-preforming song become a crowd favourite if the music market was artificially manipulated? And more philosophically, could perceived success become a self-fulfilling prophecy?