I want to write about getting lost in the labyrinth of another's mind, being mesmerized & perplexed at the same time but my words on that are too chaotic to sentence yet. Is it even possible to inhabit someone else's mind as if it was your own? It has been one of my lifelong dreams. (More words later, I hope.)
That is a fascinating idea, and there are many directions to go from that particular signpost! There's the route of the "extended mind" in which we count technologies such as communication and writing and drawing as literal extensions of the mind - not as separate tools but as literally parts of the mind. And branching from there is the idea that people working closely together actually become an extended mind between/among/across themselves - shared intelligence greater than the sum of its parts. Then there's the route of sci fi - can we create a simulation of what its like to experience the world (embodied, mental, etc) as someone else? To put their mind on like an outfit? but from THERE is the branching question of identity/experience/consciousness/first person perspective... if we are to experience the world AS someone else, where does your OWN mind go during that? By nature, each person can only ever experience one first-person perspective at a time, since splitting that is actually, literally, unimaginable. Unless there's a halfway point of sorts where you get to keep a bit of yourself while wandering through someone else's mind (like a visitor in a museum). But that's not the same thing as experiencing/embodying the consciousness of the museum herself, though... I guess the question is - what CAN you imagine? or rather, what can YOU imagine? :)
I feel like part of the Hyperion Cantos explore these ideas in a cool way. Regarding the question of "what happens to 'You' when you play around with inhabiting different first-person perspectives?" I would recommend the video game Soma. It's less about exploring the wonders of another's mind and more about the horrors of the first-person POV, but a cool way to explore philosophy of consciousness/experience all the same!
Not sure how coherent any of this ^^ is but I hope it's good food for thought, and I'm also intrigued by the idea. Many thanks for writing back.
Thank you for the card, I enjoyed it!
I want to write about getting lost in the labyrinth of another's mind, being mesmerized & perplexed at the same time but my words on that are too chaotic to sentence yet. Is it even possible to inhabit someone else's mind as if it was your own? It has been one of my lifelong dreams. (More words later, I hope.)
That is a fascinating idea, and there are many directions to go from that particular signpost! There's the route of the "extended mind" in which we count technologies such as communication and writing and drawing as literal extensions of the mind - not as separate tools but as literally parts of the mind. And branching from there is the idea that people working closely together actually become an extended mind between/among/across themselves - shared intelligence greater than the sum of its parts. Then there's the route of sci fi - can we create a simulation of what its like to experience the world (embodied, mental, etc) as someone else? To put their mind on like an outfit? but from THERE is the branching question of identity/experience/consciousness/first person perspective... if we are to experience the world AS someone else, where does your OWN mind go during that? By nature, each person can only ever experience one first-person perspective at a time, since splitting that is actually, literally, unimaginable. Unless there's a halfway point of sorts where you get to keep a bit of yourself while wandering through someone else's mind (like a visitor in a museum). But that's not the same thing as experiencing/embodying the consciousness of the museum herself, though... I guess the question is - what CAN you imagine? or rather, what can YOU imagine? :)
I feel like part of the Hyperion Cantos explore these ideas in a cool way. Regarding the question of "what happens to 'You' when you play around with inhabiting different first-person perspectives?" I would recommend the video game Soma. It's less about exploring the wonders of another's mind and more about the horrors of the first-person POV, but a cool way to explore philosophy of consciousness/experience all the same!
Not sure how coherent any of this ^^ is but I hope it's good food for thought, and I'm also intrigued by the idea. Many thanks for writing back.
It is good food for thought, thank you!