I'm a shut-in. This is my story • Hacker News Board

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#161

Post by svachalek » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:33 AM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #108

crntaylor wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a voice in my head. When I learnt from reddit discussions that most people experience their inner thoughts as an inner monologue, I was flabbergasted. If I heard a voice, I would think I was going insane. I think that's pretty normal. A quick poll of the other three people in the room reveals that none of us experience an 'inner voice'. It's more like a stream of associations, some of which might involve…

I'm pretty sure the "inner voice" is just a metaphor to describe a concept. I, too, do not hear a voice echoing in my head as if God was speaking inside my skull. I have a train of thought that I could directly translate to spoken words, but is not actually in words. It is more abstract; I shuffle around ideas. Sometimes I will speak aloud to myself when I'm trying to disassociate to find a new viewpoint, but that's…

Pretty interesting topic and responses. For one more data point, I can create an internal voice and/or images but neither happens by default. If I need to verbalize my thoughts I often have a practice conversation in my head, to see how it comes out in words. I also find it very easy to not think about anything, mind blank and just taking the world in, which seems to be considered a "weird" ability in some circles.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#162

Post by lastbookworm » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:37 AM UTC

Erwin wrote: post #38

This reminds me a bit of this first-person piece of autism-related sci-fi: http://www.amazon.com/The-Speed-Dark-Elizabeth-Moon/dp/03454... I used to keep a diary, where 13 years ago my entries were long monologues similar to this. There was a clear correlation between amount of personal and emotional human contact I had in a day and the length of the diary entries where I tried to reminisce going mushroom picking wit…

That seems like a very interesting book. Thanks for sharing! I have added it my list of things to read.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#163

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:44 AM UTC

RyanZAG wrote: post #99

unconed wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I identify with huge portions of this post. And if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that I don't think like most other people. I don't mean "my ideas are better" or "I have superior reasoning skills". I mean "the tools that I use to reason about the world are not the same that most people appear to use". It's the only logical explanation for the fact that several popular ways in which humans commun…

You're trying to paint the picture that everyone else thinks the same way, but you're completely unique and think your own way. Would it not be more likely that everyone thinks in their own way, based off of their own experiences? We all have the same hardware - amazingly complex/simple neural links. We all have different inputs, which means we all think differently. This isn't the important part - the important part…

[deleted]

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#164

Post by mcantelon » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:48 AM UTC

guizzy wrote: post #143

sliverstorm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure the "inner voice" is just a metaphor to describe a concept. I, too, do not hear a voice echoing in my head as if God was speaking inside my skull. I have a train of thought that I could directly translate to spoken words, but is not actually in words. It is more abstract; I shuffle around ideas. Sometimes I will speak aloud to myself when I'm trying to disassociate to find a new viewpoint, but that's…

As someone with a very dominant "inner voice", I have to say that, at least to me, it is exactly as having a voice echoing in my head, constantly. More precisely, I happen to think exclusively in dialogues. I imagine talking to a person, and I hear the conversation I would have with that person in my head, and their counterpoints. It gets tiring. Recently I've taken up drawing; when I draw my head is finally quiet.

I know that feeling about drawing getting your mind out of the inner dialog. Meditation is probably the same.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#165

Post by astine » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:50 AM UTC

jcroll wrote: post #71

If you're serious about the world forgetting you then why did you write this post?

If you'd read the post to the end, you'd know. He explained it pretty clearly.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#166

Post by AlexDanger » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:57 AM UTC

Hey K, have you ever considered working with children?

You know, the ones who'd prefer not to play outside with the other kids?

Whilst at uni I worked part time in various capacities as a tutor or educational assistant. One school in particular was very accommodating to students with different needs. And not just the kids who couldnt read, but the kids who wanted to read all day.

I think you'd have something to contribute in that space.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#167

Post by lastbookworm » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:59 AM UTC

ytNumbers wrote: post #125

Site Advisor has flagged this site as a security risk. I wonder if the site got hacked. Wow... Talk about kicking someone when they're down!

Did a quick check and nothing is hacked. It's just a static page served up by a rack app on heroku so it's unlikely it would ever be hacked. One other comment mentions the site being flagged so I imagine there is something that certain filters don't like. IIRC Site Advisor uses bots to flag sites. In the essay I cuss a lot, mention Las Vegas and mention drugs so I imagine it's a combination of 1. bots not liking the things I mentioned and 2. it's a recently registered domain.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#168

Post by jcroll » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 3:07 AM UTC

astine wrote: post #165

jcroll wrote: post #71

If you're serious about the world forgetting you then why did you write this post?

If you'd read the post to the end, you'd know. He explained it pretty clearly.

Oh, guess I had more important things to do with my time.

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#169

Post by tokipin » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 3:22 AM UTC

unconed wrote: post #84

RyanZAG wrote: post #37

I think you're wrong on one point: you constantly repeat how different and strange you are from everyone else. You're really not. As you mentioned at one point: you didn't want to go out and play, but the teacher forced you to do so. This is very common behavior, and teachers are forcing children every day to go out and play. Huge amount of people go through similar experiences to yours. Others start to lapse into an…

I identify with huge portions of this post. And if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that I don't think like most other people. I don't mean "my ideas are better" or "I have superior reasoning skills". I mean "the tools that I use to reason about the world are not the same that most people appear to use". It's the only logical explanation for the fact that several popular ways in which humans commun…

I'm like this too. It's awe-some power, but the downside is that serializing my ideas into language is, in the words of Bjork, "like trying to put an ocean through a straw." It's extreme enough in my case that I often sound completely retarded when speaking. Don't get me started about my many adventures in interview land. -.-

Feynman on the distinct modes of thinking that people possess:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj4y0EUlU-Y

Re: I'm a shut-in. This is my story

#170

Post by theklub » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 3:31 AM UTC

What I find funny is that everyone wants to be different but we are all different and thats what makes us the same. Also shut-ins are ironic in that they will never meet each other, therefore missing the people that they might possibly get along with best.