wedrifid comments on Being Wrong about Your Own Subjective Experience - Less Wrong

37 Post author: lukeprog 24 April 2011 08:24PM

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Comment author: wedrifid 26 April 2011 07:02:23PM 1 point [-]

So "like playing a MUD or being absorbed in a good book" isn't necessarily a very useful way of describing this.

Not very useful, merely the most useful way that is practical in a brief sentence. Not all inferential differences can be crossed in a few words. The second sentence comes closer, an essay would have gone further and a neuroscience textbook further still. But for those with particularly different default styles of thought actually grasping in detail the entirely different forms of experience would take extensive mental training - when possible at all. It is hard to explain to a blind guy what it is like to see when you are deaf and dumb yourself.

Comment author: wedrifid 26 April 2011 07:09:46PM 2 points [-]

Actually, now I'm curious. I wonder if any blind guys have ever hooked up with deaf chicks (or vice versa or vice vice). If I were in one of the groups I would definitely set out to do it at least once, even if only briefly. The two major communication lines cut off but two brains there that would, I expect, learn to cross that chasm regardless.

Comment author: Alicorn 26 April 2011 07:23:22PM *  0 points [-]

The solution that came to mind was typing (with a text-to-speech or text-to-braille solution for the blind person). If the deaf person could read lips and speak understandable English (and some can), they could just talk.

Comment author: wedrifid 27 April 2011 04:41:04AM 1 point [-]

The solution that came to mind was typing (with a text-to-speech or text-to-braille solution for the blind person).

That seems to be the obvious solution. The part that makes me intrigued, however is how the increased overhead of verbal communication would encourage a heavily intuitive physical language to emerge. Even more fascinating would be if the participants started their interacting as children. I would expect a full physically mediated grammar to evolve.

If the deaf person could read lips and speak understandable English (and some can), they could just talk.

I distinctly remember typing 'deaf and dumb'. I must have edited that out while making the phrasing fit.

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