The Future of "Grokking"

 

grok (grokking) -v. - to understand something intuitively or through empathy (transitive); to communicate sympathetically (intransitive) (Google).

    The other day I bit the bullet and decided to read (mainly out of curiosity) my "long-term, long-distant, low-commitment, casual" boyfriend's favorite novel,  the sci-fi classic Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. The four-hundred-plus-page book set at no specific time in the distant future was penned in the early 1960s, yet still remains remarkably futuristic albeit a tad dated like The Jetsons or The Fifth Element with its inclusion of dirigible taxi cabs. The protagonist, the "Man from Mars," Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians, groks more than speaks to Earthlings once he is physically returned to his parents' home planet, Earth. The term grok was apparently used widely during the 1960s; however, only those in STEM use it today. Which is why when I came across the word in the novel, I didn't recognize it. Seriously, even though I did grow up in the 1960s, the word was not part of my parents' vocabulary. Perhaps it should have been, though. Parents should always at least make an attempt to grok their children, something that can be hard to do.  

Maybe, just maybe we should contemplate the value of grokking. As classic books are slowly being banned or just no longer taught in public schools, as a former high school English teacher, I am concerned that abstract concepts, such as grokking, may no longer be explored in classrooms. Let's face it: we need to remember and live sympathy and empathy, their definitions, as true understanding comes from them. Although it has merits, technology can also have its drawbacks, especially as it has drawn us more and more into ourselves. What we really need to do is walk out of our shoes and step into those of others. To grok is to be profoundly human. Which might have been what Heinlein had in mind for his novel's paradoxical theme. Smith has to lose his humanity in a strange land in order to regain it by interfacing with nonhuman, Martian strangers.  

Hopefully, we won't have to travel to Mars and back to learn that grokking is something we should all find time to do.

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