The following is an excerpt from a book called Of Humans and Their Ways, written by the observant and insightful Robot 3000-22. Both the book and its author and totally made up and don't actually exist outside of my head.
Carry on.
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Chapter 14: Humans and Their Appearance
The following is a quote from a novel named The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Addams, a human:
"A towel...is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have 'lost.'"
I'm going to expand on this understanding of towels to explore how humans interact using their appearance (what they look like to other humans). From extremely simple visual cues, like a towel, humans conclude a gigabyte's worth of information about the humans they observe.
EXAMPLES: Long hair on one's head or face takes a lot of time and effort to care for, so others might assume that Jane, who possesses the former, also possesses patience, self-awareness, or concern about their appearance. (Unless Jane's hair appears unkempt, in which case the reverse is more likely.) High-heels are not practical for walking long distances, so an observer might assume that Sally's black stilettos mean they possess the resources to get from place to place without much walking. Dave's fancy clothing could suggest a significant amount of expendable income. Casey's large muscles could suggest that they have the fortitude and focus to exercise regularly. In all these examples, the human's appearance generates an identity in the eyes of others.
But remember, the hitchhiker in Addams' quote does not actually possess any of the things that the nonhitchhiker assumes they have. The purpose of the towel is to manipulate, to provide the dishonest appearance of already possessing those things, for the benefit of the hitchhiker. And this is exactly what humans do. Most humans know about their appearance's power to generate assumptions, so they alter their appearance to generate a particular assumption in others that they desire. EXAMPLE: Sally might walk a long distance in sport's shoes and then switch to high heels at the destination to provide the appearance of having more resources than they have.
Unfortunately, others often notice this manipulation, and so they instead make their assumptions based on the human's failed manipulation. EXAMPLE: Leo wears ripped jeans in an attempt to generate the assumption in others that they are independent and therefore flippant about what others think of them (i.e. "too cool to care"). However, the others might perceive that Leo's ripped-jeans-wearing is intentional and instead conclude (accurately) that Leo actually cares a great deal about what others think of them. And so, a complex and silent interaction takes place whenever humans behold other humans.
One might conclude that the human species is hopeless because of all their focus on others' opinions rather than the mysteries of the universe outside their imaginary social world. They seem quite trapped in their battleground of social combat, vying their whole lives for control of their own identity in others' eyes.
However, as we've seen in other chapters, all human communication can be used for beneficial or destructive purposes, and appearance is no exception. I believe that, in healthy cases, more functional humans use appearance interaction to explore who they are, examine the disparity or agreement between their outer and inner selves, and make progress towards self-actualization. Also, they can use their appearance for practical purposes, like asserting a counter-cultural identity, surviving in a hostile environment, or providing a soothing demeanor to others. Therefore, I believe, if you want to thrive as a human, it's best to know where your towel is.
