an only mildly related fact that (if you don’t know already) i thought you might enjoy: Garhwali, which is my mother’s native tongue, has many words for oddly specific smells, ranging from the smell of a dog, to the moist smell that permeates from fabric post rainfall :))
I'd say this thought misses a very important part of the phenomenon, it's not just smell that is lost, every other sense is too; when you're experiencing a sunset, you do so with your whole being, with this much abstraction you're losing the warmth of the sun, the breeze of the wind, the chirping of some passing bird, and the feeling of utter scale of the panorama that is engulfing you.
Not only you should be smelling more things, you should be FEELING more.
Agree! The breeze of the wind and chirping of passing birds constitute the serendipity that is quite essential to the "real" experience. However, one counterexample to the relationship between presence and "real" experience is people filming most of a concert with their phones, instead of actually enjoying the performance, despite being physically present in the venue.
(This may be related to Adam's point about the shift of the word "perception"'s meaning from presence to attention.)
‘Aura’ is something that’s been overstated and exploited on the internet and its nice to see a fresh take on what it truly means in relation to experiences rather than superficial nonchalance. Smell is arguably the strongest sense associated to memory as well, as a nostalgic smell can take us back to an old holiday or a food from our childhood almost instantly. While marketing can exploit this by feeding us artificial smells and exaggerated descriptions, the associations between our memories and the smells we experience will always be our own. That for me is the most beautiful thing of this sense, more than sight and sound.
With this information, it makes sense why in relationships, I don’t like it as much if I have to tell or ask someone for help, for what I want, or to do things for me. I like it much better when they know me so well that they intuitively do something or give me something they know I’d like without me prompting them. Because if I have to explicitly ask for it, then it’s a mere representation and it’s not as good as the original.
Our senses are something we should be giving more attention to when participating in reality. Take for example hearing, or, sound. Our sense of hearing isn’t utilized fully in our everyday experiences, rendering us less “present”, as it has become common for our minds to be running with thoughts that are unrelated to the environment around us. We can’t hear the natural sounds of the world when we’re rehearsing dialogue in our heads. Experiences without the awareness of our senses leads to detachment.
I had a noticeably different emotional state following a head injury where I lost my sense of smell for about a year. Imagine dating someone and having no idea what they smell like? Until you lose it, it's hard to realize how much texture smell adds to your experiences and memories.
My partner lost his sense of smell due to COVID and I have to say, it's dangerous too when it comes to cooking! We've had the smoke alarm go off under his watch more than mine for sure lol
As a person who appreciates Benjamin (don't we all) and is kinda obsessed w/smells, this is my favorite thing I've read this week. I enjoy noticing scents in my environment and am fascinated by unusual representational scents too (I have a niche perfume that smells like roast dinner; it kinda gives thyme and heme). Fragrantica is an interesting site that helped me learn about accords (like petrichor) in lab-generated scents, but studying that helped me identify and more intentionally experience scents in the real world. And now you got me thinking about how Disney pumps fake cookie smells in their theme parks! And how in the Star Trek franchise, characters say how much better real food tastes and smells compared to replicated food.
Smelling works in tandem with tasting. Hence why commercials about food rely on describing the feeling and creating a false aesthetic to the food, or attaching the sounds associated with the food. But there's no way to recreate taste. You can only get reminders of it by inference.
The audiovisual prioritization aspect in digital design is also a result of a colonial/ western way of thinking. Some indigenous cultures in Australia prioritize not just 5 external senses, but internal (like intuition) White-dominated tech continues the systemic erasure of indigenous cultures by creating strong and untrue sensory hierarchies.
an only mildly related fact that (if you don’t know already) i thought you might enjoy: Garhwali, which is my mother’s native tongue, has many words for oddly specific smells, ranging from the smell of a dog, to the moist smell that permeates from fabric post rainfall :))
Portuguese has a word for the smell of feet/shoes :D
ah how interesting!! surprisingly, (as far as i could investigate) garhwali doesn’t seem to have something similar?? maybe it’s due to the climate?
I'd say this thought misses a very important part of the phenomenon, it's not just smell that is lost, every other sense is too; when you're experiencing a sunset, you do so with your whole being, with this much abstraction you're losing the warmth of the sun, the breeze of the wind, the chirping of some passing bird, and the feeling of utter scale of the panorama that is engulfing you.
Not only you should be smelling more things, you should be FEELING more.
Agree! The breeze of the wind and chirping of passing birds constitute the serendipity that is quite essential to the "real" experience. However, one counterexample to the relationship between presence and "real" experience is people filming most of a concert with their phones, instead of actually enjoying the performance, despite being physically present in the venue.
(This may be related to Adam's point about the shift of the word "perception"'s meaning from presence to attention.)
"This is not a pipe" ahh article
‘Aura’ is something that’s been overstated and exploited on the internet and its nice to see a fresh take on what it truly means in relation to experiences rather than superficial nonchalance. Smell is arguably the strongest sense associated to memory as well, as a nostalgic smell can take us back to an old holiday or a food from our childhood almost instantly. While marketing can exploit this by feeding us artificial smells and exaggerated descriptions, the associations between our memories and the smells we experience will always be our own. That for me is the most beautiful thing of this sense, more than sight and sound.
Intriguing post, also just pre-ordered the book 💛
With this information, it makes sense why in relationships, I don’t like it as much if I have to tell or ask someone for help, for what I want, or to do things for me. I like it much better when they know me so well that they intuitively do something or give me something they know I’d like without me prompting them. Because if I have to explicitly ask for it, then it’s a mere representation and it’s not as good as the original.
Not sure if you're familiar with Dr. Ally Louks, but she would love this and you would love her work!
I'm ashamed to confess that I thought the ending was going to be a segue into some kind of perfume ad 😭
Our senses are something we should be giving more attention to when participating in reality. Take for example hearing, or, sound. Our sense of hearing isn’t utilized fully in our everyday experiences, rendering us less “present”, as it has become common for our minds to be running with thoughts that are unrelated to the environment around us. We can’t hear the natural sounds of the world when we’re rehearsing dialogue in our heads. Experiences without the awareness of our senses leads to detachment.
damn this is making me feel worse because of my poor sense of smell 😭
Even so, I think it’s not about the “quality” of the smell, but just the simple act of doing and feeling it.
At least that means we're mostly safe from unpleasant smells!
me too! it's so unfortunate because i love (the idea of) perfumes and learning about them. and it also affects my sense of taste sometimes. </3
I can't name most smells either
"I see smelling as a radical act" was not a phrase I expected to read today but I am absolutely here for it.
There's a reason the most basic 5-4-3-2-1 anxiety exercise focuses you on your senses to combat dissociation.
you and dr ally louks need to collab
I had a noticeably different emotional state following a head injury where I lost my sense of smell for about a year. Imagine dating someone and having no idea what they smell like? Until you lose it, it's hard to realize how much texture smell adds to your experiences and memories.
My partner lost his sense of smell due to COVID and I have to say, it's dangerous too when it comes to cooking! We've had the smoke alarm go off under his watch more than mine for sure lol
As a person who appreciates Benjamin (don't we all) and is kinda obsessed w/smells, this is my favorite thing I've read this week. I enjoy noticing scents in my environment and am fascinated by unusual representational scents too (I have a niche perfume that smells like roast dinner; it kinda gives thyme and heme). Fragrantica is an interesting site that helped me learn about accords (like petrichor) in lab-generated scents, but studying that helped me identify and more intentionally experience scents in the real world. And now you got me thinking about how Disney pumps fake cookie smells in their theme parks! And how in the Star Trek franchise, characters say how much better real food tastes and smells compared to replicated food.
Smelling works in tandem with tasting. Hence why commercials about food rely on describing the feeling and creating a false aesthetic to the food, or attaching the sounds associated with the food. But there's no way to recreate taste. You can only get reminders of it by inference.
The audiovisual prioritization aspect in digital design is also a result of a colonial/ western way of thinking. Some indigenous cultures in Australia prioritize not just 5 external senses, but internal (like intuition) White-dominated tech continues the systemic erasure of indigenous cultures by creating strong and untrue sensory hierarchies.