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▲ godelski 9 hours ago

  > 1. Make it clear to them that with "internal monologue" you do not mean an actual audible hallucination
What do you mean? I hear my voice in my head. I can differentiate this from a voice outside my head, but yes, I do "hear" it.

And yes, this has been discussed in depth. It was like literally the first thing...

But no, they do not have conversations in their heads like I do. They do not use words as their medium. I have no doubt that their experience is different from mine.

  > 2. Ask them if they EVER have imagined themselves or others saying or asking anything
This is an orthogonal point. Yes, they have imagined normal interactions. But frequently those imaginary conversations do not use words.

  > The cat actually proves my point.
Idk man, I think you should get a pet. My cat communicates with me all the time. But she has no language.

  > Fun fact: whenever animals (apes, birds) have been taught language, they never ask questions (some claim they did, but if you dig in you'll see that the interpretation is extremely dubious).
To be clear, I'm not saying my cat's intelligence is anywhere near ours. She can do tricks and is "smart for a cat" but I'm not even convinced she's as intelligent as the various wild corvids I feed.
▲the_gipsy 8 hours ago | parent [-]

It's pretty self explanatory: there's actual voice heard with your ears, there's the internal monologue, and then there's a hallucination.

> Yes, they have imagined normal interactions. But frequently those imaginary conversations do not use words.

And you did not dig in deeper? How exactly do you imagine a conversation without words?