Nisan comments on Mental Crystallography - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Alicorn 27 February 2010 01:04AM

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Comment author: Nisan 27 February 2010 07:05:03AM 14 points [-]

Is it true that people process things so differently?

Yes. I'd love to list a bunch of first- and second-hand anecdotal evidence for this, but anecdotal evidence is not great evidence. Instead, consider the example of synaesthesia, and the fact that synaesthetes can live for decades without realizing that not all people are synaesthetes. It's easy not to notice huge differences in the way people's minds work.

Comment author: SilasBarta 01 March 2010 10:03:56PM 0 points [-]

I wish there were some general test you could take that tells you if you differ from other people in a fundamental way like this.

I've heard of a condition that's like "superempathy" where you actually feel the pain you see in others as if it were done to you. E.g., you see someone injected with a needle, you feel as if you were stabbed with a needle. Such a test would tell you whether you have a normal "ick" reaction, or some sort of abnormal ability.

Comment author: CronoDAS 01 March 2010 10:06:36PM 1 point [-]

That came from a novel by Octavia Butler; as far as I know, it isn't real.

Comment author: SilasBarta 01 March 2010 10:19:51PM 0 points [-]

That's not where I got it.

Comment author: CronoDAS 02 March 2010 01:37:05AM 3 points [-]

The novels in question were Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents and the main character of the novels has "hyperempathy syndrome" which has exactly the effects you describe. And it was invented for the novel; it isn't real.

Comment author: orthonormal 28 February 2010 05:22:35PM 0 points [-]

Upvoted both the good question and the good answer.