Cannot / Can

In Thailand, it is common to hear Thais express their inability to do something by saying “cannot”.

For example, on certain holidays they aren’t allowed to sell alcoholic drinks in stores, you might ask and the person at the counter will say “cannot”.

One time a friend went to buy a bottle of wine, not realizing that it was past the time you could by alcoholic beverages. He received a firm “cannot”. Instead of arguing or taking no for an answer, he said “can”. They went back and forth and back and forth until the storekeeper gave in and sold him the wine.

As the airport-ization of life goes on, we all will be confronted with more “cannot” bots. A logical mind tries to reason and explain when confronted with someone who just doesn’t get it. But the way to get what you want in a world of “cannots” is to just say “can” or to do the thing the bot is saying you cannot do.

“You can’t stand here”, “you can’t go this way”, “you have to do this”. Unaccounted for in the mindless repetition of the rules is “but what if I do?” or “will you stop me?”

Because the bots don’t care about doing something right, they only care about not getting blamed for something going wrong.