On Mind, Language and Machines

Post by code6fun » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 12:59 PM UTC

K0SM0S wrote: post #8

0x0f0f0f wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read that post. It's still a mistery to me the fact that there are people without internal monologues that can speak without any sort of problem. Chomsky and Berwick hinted that recursive language may have evolved as "an internal monologue" in their "Why Only Us" essay, where they surely can explain their evolutionary point of view better than me. I guess if that there really are people without "the internal too…

You make me wonder if language regions of the brain get activated when we "talk to ourselves" in the same way as when we talk to others. Edit: I love a downvote as much as the next guy, but if you're a neuroscientist who knows, please explain or share links?

Post by coldtea » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

goatlover wrote: post #10

0x0f0f0f wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read that post. It's still a mistery to me the fact that there are people without internal monologues that can speak without any sort of problem. Chomsky and Berwick hinted that recursive language may have evolved as "an internal monologue" in their "Why Only Us" essay, where they surely can explain their evolutionary point of view better than me. I guess if that there really are people without "the internal too…

Not everyone’s brain works the same way. Read some stuff by Temple Grandin or Oliver Sacks. As for how evolution may have done anything is just a guess until there is empirical data backing up that hypothesis. It’s more likely that Chomsky just assumes everyone’s mind worked like his and used that to tell a just so evolutionary story.

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 4:00 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #13

goatlover wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone’s brain works the same way. Read some stuff by Temple Grandin or Oliver Sacks. As for how evolution may have done anything is just a guess until there is empirical data backing up that hypothesis. It’s more likely that Chomsky just assumes everyone’s mind worked like his and used that to tell a just so evolutionary story.

> Not everyone’s brain works the same way. Read some stuff by Temple Grandin or Oliver Sacks Yes, but these study outliers. Most everybody's brain works the same way (or in a few, finite, ways)

Post by onemoresoop » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

K0SM0S wrote: post #9

0x0f0f0f wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only guess that one has a more verbal or visual imagination depending on his/her development, and it would be interesting if we knew more about the genomic factors taking place in the development of the stream of consciousness. Depending on the context I also have both verbal and visual streams of consciousness. A funny thing is that my verbal mental streams are far more fluid in English, which is not my fully…

Same here, my French got relegated to the back of my mind, English took over (that was of my own volition first, to learn best, but then it became habit). Sometimes I revert to writing in French; it takes a little time like bicycle to come back really well. It often framed my mind in a different way, provided I never thought of problem X in French. Weird. I'm more likely to speak in "poetic" terms in French, and more…

Post by K0SM0S » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 5:35 PM UTC

onemoresoop wrote: post #17

K0SM0S wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, my French got relegated to the back of my mind, English took over (that was of my own volition first, to learn best, but then it became habit). Sometimes I revert to writing in French; it takes a little time like bicycle to come back really well. It often framed my mind in a different way, provided I never thought of problem X in French. Weird. I'm more likely to speak in "poetic" terms in French, and more…

Same here but with a different first language and English as a second. I tend to be more poetic with my first language but use it a lot more sparingly nowadays. As far as I am aware most of my internal monologue isn't verbalized but it does happen. Over all I wouldn't rely too much on my internal monologue, it feels that it slows down my thinking to put whatever abstract thought I have into words.