I love asking people about this. Both whether they have an inner monologue or whether they’re able to visualize things. It’s always fascinated me. It’s something we take for granted. I have an inner monologue I can’t turn off, and I’m definitely a 2 or 1 depending on how tired I am. Being a 5 on this scale is called “aphantasia”
I’ve talked to pretty good people that stated with sincerity that they had no inner monologue. They get along just fine without one, even if that’s hard for me to imagine.
when reading it’s more like they’re sorting through a file cabinet of ideas than hearing an audiobook in their heads.
it helps to read out loud
they can’t play music they’ve heard before in their heads
they’re not plagued by constantly reliving the past (I think this is actually a very strong positive of not having an inner monologue)
they can’t imagine future conversations before they have them.
I think it’s important for socialists to keep in mind how people process information, sine it can massively change our political strategy of spreading our ideas.
One of the smartest people I know and one of my best friends has aphantasia and no voice in his head, but got perfect scores on calculus and engineering exams, even those for which I had to visualize the forms and calculate based on that. Like multivariable calculus is all about 3D and eventually all other D shit and he got perfect scores with no concept of imagining the shapes. We discuss this a lot generally, because he still works in a research field that I can only grasp visually and he has absolutely no ability to do so but understands it better. He also reads so fuckin fast because he doesn’t have to wait for the voice
Agreed. There are very real upsides to both of these phenomenon, like abstract thinking can be much easier if you don’t do the initial translation to words/images before understanding your thoughts. I for one need the images or a language to organize myself, but sometimes that’s a limitation. Brains are really cool dawg
I love asking people about this. Both whether they have an inner monologue or whether they’re able to visualize things. It’s always fascinated me. It’s something we take for granted. I have an inner monologue I can’t turn off, and I’m definitely a 2 or 1 depending on how tired I am. Being a 5 on this scale is called “aphantasia”
Removed by mod
I’ve talked to pretty good people that stated with sincerity that they had no inner monologue. They get along just fine without one, even if that’s hard for me to imagine.
Rude. Just because people don’t think the same way as you doesn’t mean they’re not sentient. Don’t be ableist.
Q&A with a person with no inner monologue
I think it’s important for socialists to keep in mind how people process information, sine it can massively change our political strategy of spreading our ideas.
One of the smartest people I know and one of my best friends has aphantasia and no voice in his head, but got perfect scores on calculus and engineering exams, even those for which I had to visualize the forms and calculate based on that. Like multivariable calculus is all about 3D and eventually all other D shit and he got perfect scores with no concept of imagining the shapes. We discuss this a lot generally, because he still works in a research field that I can only grasp visually and he has absolutely no ability to do so but understands it better. He also reads so fuckin fast because he doesn’t have to wait for the voice
Yes, this shows how important neurodiversity is to human kind. People who are seeing this as a disability are missing the upsides.
Agreed. There are very real upsides to both of these phenomenon, like abstract thinking can be much easier if you don’t do the initial translation to words/images before understanding your thoughts. I for one need the images or a language to organize myself, but sometimes that’s a limitation. Brains are really cool dawg