This is very interesting to me.
I think it demonstrates the subtleties the mind is capable of.
When we utilize the phrase "your inner voice" it can have different meanings.
I find it an interesting distinction that reading and thinking in language
seems easier WITHOUT the rather laborious task of "mentally vocalizing" it,
when we could just as easily expend the effort ACTUALLY vocalizing it.
yet, we have the ability to do so,
so it must serve some purpose,
or indicate something about how the mind works.
Just the other day, someone was telling me how certain repetitive behaviors
are stored in the spinal column, and not in the brain, itself....like driving, or walking.
It's why when you ask someone to give you a phone number they are very familiar with,
they suddenly can't tell you, and need to mime with their hand like they're dialing a phone,
because " my fingers know the number...my brain doesn't. "
Perhaps asking the brain to formulate an imaginary voice that bothers to enunciate your thoughts
is a byproduct of how the brain works, but is an unnecessary and cumbersome step, a waste of time and effort:
Like requiring a supercomputer to display every step of a problem-solving process on a screen that no-one is there to read, when the computer doesn't need to take that step in order to solve the problem.
it is interesting to me to speculate that this might tie into the question of "consciousness" and where it is distinct from the grey matter that makes consciousness possible...it's a question that I know Descartes took on, but I keep meaning to read him and haven't yet.
I think it demonstrates the subtleties the mind is capable of.
When we utilize the phrase "your inner voice" it can have different meanings.
I find it an interesting distinction that reading and thinking in language
seems easier WITHOUT the rather laborious task of "mentally vocalizing" it,
when we could just as easily expend the effort ACTUALLY vocalizing it.
yet, we have the ability to do so,
so it must serve some purpose,
or indicate something about how the mind works.
Just the other day, someone was telling me how certain repetitive behaviors
are stored in the spinal column, and not in the brain, itself....like driving, or walking.
It's why when you ask someone to give you a phone number they are very familiar with,
they suddenly can't tell you, and need to mime with their hand like they're dialing a phone,
because " my fingers know the number...my brain doesn't. "
Perhaps asking the brain to formulate an imaginary voice that bothers to enunciate your thoughts
is a byproduct of how the brain works, but is an unnecessary and cumbersome step, a waste of time and effort:
Like requiring a supercomputer to display every step of a problem-solving process on a screen that no-one is there to read, when the computer doesn't need to take that step in order to solve the problem.
it is interesting to me to speculate that this might tie into the question of "consciousness" and where it is distinct from the grey matter that makes consciousness possible...it's a question that I know Descartes took on, but I keep meaning to read him and haven't yet.
