Novice writer, rationalist, and yuri enthusiast.
Astrid Callender
Karma: 19
https://www.lesswrong.com/s/ynMFrq9K5iNMfSZNg
Luminosity, as used here, is self-awareness. A luminous mental state is one that you have and know that you have. It could be an emotion, a belief or alief, a disposition, a quale, a memory—anything that might happen or be stored in your brain. What’s going on in your head?
I suspect that it’s less common in luminous/rational communities, since a more luminous person might be more likely to see the formation of a mindscape and go “No, that’s not what’s going on.”
I don’t have enough data to actually verify that theory, but of the 3 rationalists that have answered, none of them have mindscapes.
“I kinda think of it as like a wheel of random information that spins and what it lands on is what I’m thinking of.
And sometimes when I can’t sleep, I just imagine every thought or memory I had of the day and putting it into storage and watching it disappear for the night.”
“I like to think of mine as sorta a dart board mixed with a clock. I try to associate things with phases of the day (...), I find myself throwing a dart at the board and just going with whatever it lands on.
(...)
So in my brain ill initially take a thought, task, etc, and assign it to a spot on the board (we’ll use the example of eating lunch at noon just for the sake of conversation). And then once noon comes around, I’ll look at noon, have decision paralysis on what to do, either first or just point blank period, panic, and throw a dart at the board with my eyes closed. Which may result in doing something that is elected for a different time completely out of sequence—like cleaning your room at 4am when you’re supposed to be sleeping. Or taking a nap when i should have been studying for tests for school.”
This specific anecdote sounds much more like a visualization of executive function than a Mindscape in how I defined it, but it’s still interesting and tangentially related.
“I think the library visual works the best for me. (...) Memories are ofc different books, different shelves have different labels. If a memory can be labeled under several labels, that means there are several copies in different shelves meaning its easier to appear at random, which tracks for recalling memories. Books that I don’t bring out often grow dusty making it harder to read the title to find it, and also makes them harder to read cuz pages fall out or whatever so I gave to piece things together to understand them.”
“My mind is a tornado full of letters and words at the edge of a cliff. My thoughts are formed by leaning over the side of the cliff and picking words from the tornado.
(...)
For me, I can’t get to the eye of the storm (subconscious) because the cliff is holding me back.”
“Yeah pretty much a filing room or archive for most things. Large sections of broad categories like memories that are then sorted down into good, bad, who, when, where, how I felt. My memory loss is like redacted pages, there’s bits n pieces.
The only thing that’s different is how my real time emotions look I think? Like my anger is explosive and overwhelming, there is no filing or organizing sometimes.”
“My mind is kind of like a big ocean with certain things floating to the surface when I need them.”
“Memories feel like portals because there are surface level entry point memories, and then there are tons of memories that I have to go through like portals to go deep enough for the one I want (or usually didnt want).
Ideas float around kind of like algae in water- when I’m having thoughts or ideas they’re in the big void, floating around (it’s like having someone rant to you with your eyes closed).”
Has your opinion changed significantly from Stuart_2020 on this?
Oops, I think you’re right. I meant it in the sense that I lose control of my body (shaking/quivering, being unable to stand or form words, etc) but even that just sounds similar to my friends’ descriptions of meltdowns.
This is really interesting! The closest I’ve come to your experience is probably a specific time in high-school when I was having a meltdown with an unhelpful teacher that was telling me it was my fault, and I literally couldn’t control my body or think straight. But I think my thing was much more of a physical reaction as opposed to a decision-making one. (I hope everything worked out!)
Thanks for welcoming me! I’m glad to be here :3
This is my first post on LessWrong by the way, so please give me advice on anything that stands out to you! Thank you :)
Some answers to your questions:
I went through and tried asking a couple of the people that gave me more vivid mindscapes, but it doesn’t seem like something that they have going constantly. I don’t know what the actual qualia of having a mindscape is like, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s something that’s entirely visualized after the memory is retrieved. If not, then I think that they’re usually intentionally calling up the visualization. Whether this actually helps with recall I have yet to find out.
I believe it looks mostly the same, barring intentional changes or shifts in your immediate state of mind. Maybe people with less vivid mindscapes have more variation though?
It sounds like it can be but usually isn’t, especially since some visualizations have a more chaotic method of recall as opposed to methodically perusing a library.
I think the way I retrieve memories is mostly the same, when I’m intentionally trying to call something up. I haven’t actively tried visualizing the process within my mind though, so I’ll try that to see if it helps or not. Interestingly, although I don’t have a clear construct for memory and concept storage, I do have a very clear picture when I’m feeling emotions. It’s watercolors on a blank white background, with the watercolors dispersing as if they’re suspended in water.