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Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

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Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#211
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy REALLY looks like the police sketches too. Almost perfectly the same, except for maybe a slight difference in nose width.

Does anyone else have issues with identifying and describing facial features. I have no problems recognizing people, but there’s no way I can verbalize them on a specific features basis. What kind of disorder do I have?

I feel the same way. I know there are purported to be disorders that affect the ability to recognize different faces, but I have to ask myself whether or not I’m much worse than the average, or if everyone is bad at it and I’m just more aware of that. Study after study since the 1960s has all but proven that humans just aren’t good at this and eyewitness testimony is very often wrong, yet we still insist that we “know what we saw.”

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#212
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy REALLY looks like the police sketches too. Almost perfectly the same, except for maybe a slight difference in nose width.

Does anyone else have issues with identifying and describing facial features. I have no problems recognizing people, but there’s no way I can verbalize them on a specific features basis. What kind of disorder do I have?

This isn't an activity many people have to do often (verbally classifying facial features), so it isn't that surprising to me that untrained people have difficulty with it. Obviously I don't know your specific experience, but I'd think your experience is the norm rather than the exception.

In my mind, it's similar to musicians training solfege or chemists training in verbally classifying a smell: it aids both their understanding and their skill. It absolutely blew my mind to have a perfumist friend of mine describe smells to me as we were walking through the city. I'd never have guessed the depth and complexity of olfactory sensations that us humans are capable of with the right training.

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, "aphantasia" is now labeled as "the inability to voluntarily create a mental picture in your head". That's from Google. The primary problem with this label is that this could include some people who see involuntary imagery (like people), but don't do what is essentially creative visualization. For those people, they "know" the experience of seeing things in mind. Then there are the rest of us "aphants"…

> Then there are the rest of us "aphants" that don't ever see images internally, at all. What about remembering things that you have already seen? Let's say I ask you to watch, for example, the Star Trek TNG opening sequence. Can you "rewatch" it? I can. I can also sort of picture 'creative' images, to an extent. However, conjuring up faces of people I've met is pretty difficult. Even my dog, which I find easier than…

Yeah, the answer is always "no I don't see it". That is because I don't build side models in my mind, from thinking mind. While awake, I build ONE model in mind, from what my sensors feed it. When the sensors go dark, I see darkness and hear nothing.

While falling asleep I'm able to have hypnagogic visualizations. I do dream (but can't re-see the dreams) and psychedelics haven't produced anything much in the way of imagery. Maybe sounds and some slight alteration of the model, like movement or some slight color enhancement.

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#214
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then there are the rest of us "aphants" that don't ever see images internally, at all. What about remembering things that you have already seen? Let's say I ask you to watch, for example, the Star Trek TNG opening sequence. Can you "rewatch" it? I can. I can also sort of picture 'creative' images, to an extent. However, conjuring up faces of people I've met is pretty difficult. Even my dog, which I find easier than…

I've some sort of stock graphics library in my mind. For example, I cannot visualize the apple I have in my hand, even if I consciously study it for a few minutes and note out the shape and colouration before closing my eyes. However, I can visualize "an apple", I even get a choice between clipart version or realistic stock photo version of a red delicious or an granny smith. I cannot conjure up the faces of people I…

I've found it challenging to pin down someone about whether they see stuff internally or not. It's as if people who do aren't quite aware of what they are doing is happening, but if they think about it (like breathing) then they are like "oh yeah, I see it!"

Anything "built up" from a mental concept, and seen as an image, would be exactly what I don't do.

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t visualize anything really. It’s like I just think about its shape in an abstract since but I don’t actually visualize anything it’s all words and thoughts in my head, no images.

Can you close your eyes and visualize a red, three dimensional star rotating?

What is a 3 dimensional star? A star is a 2D shape, so this statement is ambiguous

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t visualize anything really. It’s like I just think about its shape in an abstract since but I don’t actually visualize anything it’s all words and thoughts in my head, no images.

Can you close your eyes and visualize a red, three dimensional star rotating?

Nope I just think about a star and it rotating but there is no visualization or images involved

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#217

I cannot even fathom the evil required to kill a real life human being just for a sick moment of "fun" or whatever it is. I'm almost hoping that they've got the wrong guy and that the real one is alive so they can catch him and execute him.

Do you sense no irony whatsoever in your statement?

Not at all. The idea that punishment = crime would imply that imprisonment is morally equivalent to kidnapping, or that a fine is morally equivalent to robbery. I don’t subscribe

Re: Investigators say they've finally identified the Zodiac Killer

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When investigators contacted him anew in 1992, he suddenly died of heart failure before they could interview him. What are you implying? If anything.

Either medication-induced suicide or massive stress spike. It's very convenient timing to die.

Convenient for who?
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