"I just assumed everyone had it, you know that little narrator in your head who talks you through your decisions, who questions your actions, who reflects on your failures and asks, “Why did I do that?” But here’s the data: over 75% of people report little to no inner dialogue at all. Nothing. No voice. No back-and-forth. No internal monologue steering the ship. Like wtf...
They think in pictures, emotions, or gut instincts. They "just know" things without verbalizing them internally. That sounds harmless per se, until you realize what’s missing. Self-awareness. Moral calibration. Inner correction. Long-term introspection. All of it hinges on the ability to hold a conversation with yourself...you know...to weigh options, rehearse scenarios, argue with your own thoughts. Take that away, and what’s left is not a philosopher… it’s a refined animal in a human body. Sorry 75%.
I honestly don't think we're studying this seriously enough. Psychologists dismiss it as “neurodiversity,” as if it’s just a quirk. But what if it’s more than that? What if we’re looking at a fundamental divide in human consciousness... almost like a split between narrative beings and reactive shells? Sorry again.
Between those who live with an inner world… and those who just follow the script handed to them by instinct and media?... Sound familiar?
Think about what this explains. Why people are so easy to manipulate. Why mass movements work. Why so few stop to question anything. Because if there’s no voice inside, there’s nothing to say “Hold on. Is this right?” There’s no inner witness. No friction. Just impressions, feelings, and the next dopamine hit. I know this will be controversial...but these are the studies conclusions.
I'm assuming the silence in others is just quiet, not absence. But what if most of the world is sleepwalking, not because they’re unwilling… but because they’re literally unequipped to narrate their own story? If that's true, everything we know about agency, ethics, and consciousness needs to be rewritten."
https://x.com/JasonWilde108/status/1939466323479634036
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810008000342?via%3Dihub
It's the same for most people when you tell them to try to visualize something in their heads, they can't do it.
Like this: picture an apple in your mind.
Did an image of an apple immediately pop into your thoughts? Red, green, yellow? Flat or 3D? Can you only see one side of it or can you "turn" it in your head, like a 3D projection? Can you even visualize yourself in 3rd person eating the apple? Can you visualize even bigger scenes where you are gathering apples at an orchard, eating them, baking them in pies, etc?
Basically, can you daydream?
If you can't, then you might be an NPC. * * * The More You Know * * *
I thought everyone could do that. Very strange to know that there are people that can't imagine images or dialogue. I daydream all the time.
Now you understand the Math issues beyond + , -, X , / for most
OMG, this exact conversation was had around the table on Christmas. The example I chose? An apple. Line drawing to 3D with scent, etc etc. They couldn't do it. What still has me shaken is that they can't picture the face of a loved one. No image of their wife, parents, siblings, or grandparents. Nothing. Frankly, it was unsettling.
Crazy right? People can't even remember their family members faces in their minds anymore. I think it's also getting worse due to the overuse of technology. We have pictures of our families on our phones we can always look at, so why bother remembering in our minds?
I think people who are artistic or creative have an easier time imaging things in the mind, because that's where our creativity and ideas for art comes from. This is probably why I can 3D image things, objects, people, or places in my head, and easily draw them just from memory. Like you said, it's unsettling that there's literally nothing going on in other people's heads, not even static, it's just...blank and dark. That's terrifying.
I remember almost everything. Even today in my older age, I could draw the entire floorplan of a house I lived in when I was 3 and 4 years old. I remember riding around from room to room on my tricycle that I got when I was 3.
I can see almost anything in my mind. I can watch Popeye cartoons if I wish. I can design things in my head. I can do math in my head.
You are far and away more intellectual than the majority of people even because of this. Average IQ in America is now below 100.
I have Asperger's (now just autistic according to the new manual) and a high IQ. I'm old, but still researching and writing.
I was told long ago that intelligent people talk about ideas, medium intelligence people talk about things, and low intelligence people talk about other people.
I love the second statement, and it makes perfectly good sense when I relate it to people I know.
Average IQ will always be 100. But 100 ain't what it used to be.
I guess what I mean is that the median IQ, so what the average is among all adults across the US, is below 100 now, something like 98. However true average is anywhere from 85-115. In either case it is dropping. Pretty sure majority of libs are below 80 at this point.
The ability to mentally visualize things in 3-space was a tremendous advantage when I studied organic chemistry.
No kidding. It was the same thing for me in organic chem. I always marveled at how others were not able to do something I could so easily do. Engineering works the same way. You have to be able to rotate objects in your head in 3 dimensional space. To me this ability distinguished so-so engineers from great engineers. I suppose this can be applied to a variety of occupational genres.
My son was always able to rotate images in his head in 3d, also had a running "movie" in his head, and could describe the current scene if I asked. I on the other hand, cannot see images in my head, but have a constant dialogue going. I did discover that I see "something" After really paying attention, I realized I was seeing the energy signature of an object, not the physical item. So if I saw a "stove" I was seeing an energy blob that had the signature of a stove, or an energy of an apple, or whatever, but not the item one sees in photographs. When close family died, I could see their energy signature in the "in between" space before they left this realm, and converse with them/ their energy. Not their picture, but an energy blob that I recognized. I first realized this in 1986 when one of my grandmothers died, stopped by to tell me "goodbye", and was shocked that no one had ever mentioned this could happen.
Interesting. Do you see auras? I can barely see the patterns you speak of - but mostly I just sense the energy. I feel it more than I can see it.
Being a visual spatial person I can visualize objects. Sometimes there is non verbal communication with others or even animals. I sense evil when I am near it and at times have actually seen it around certain people - like a dark faint cloud surrounding them and the feeling makes my skin crawl. It has always been a warning mechanism for me. I believe it has been God trying to protect me. I can see things like that spiritually. Usually on my peripheral vision. Sometimes it is just a mental picture.
Last year I had a really good friend pass. It was like he stopped by for just a brief moment to say goodbye. I recognized him immediately. I had not gotten the news about his passing till the next morning - but I already knew. It has been the same with some of my relatives.
So, there is a combination of things I really can't explain other than it is just there. It is normal for me so I have never really questioned it. So much in the world that we do not understand - more than what we perceive with just our 5 senses.
I am able to visualise how a network packet traverses the internet at every level, it makes troubleshooting look like magic to other people, they just can't see the dots I'm using to join things up.
I know what you mean. I used to work out biochemistry problems in my head visualizing a white board. A couple of times I actually did it in my sleep. People look at you like your nuts if you tell them. It is nice to know I am not such an oddball. I guess we are just gifted in that way.
So one can substitute problem for enemy 🤔
“To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.” ― Sun Tzu
And here I thought that manner of thinking was called ""Conceptual Thinking"", where we can see what we are conceptualizing, and can then describe it in Words....
This so called ""TEST"", sounds a lot like it is yet half done, and still needs more doing so as to gain better results....