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Paramedic with aphantasia here. You're spot on that it's a huge blessing in that regard (I don't think there's any particular selection pressure for it in EMS t

Paramedic with aphantasia here. You're spot on that it's a huge blessing in that regard (I don't think there's any particular selection pressure for it in EMS though, I've yet to come across anyone else in the field) What was the point at which it "clicked" for you? For me it was an AskReddit thread a few years back with a prompt of "When you hear a 'three X walk into a bar' joke, what does the bar look like?" It had just never occurred to me that people can actually visualize a bar when they hear that joke.

NateEag 5y ago
It clicked for me when I read Blake Ross's article on his own discovery of aphantasia: https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3A2862324277332876%7D&path=%2Fnotes%2Fnote%2F&refsrc=deprecated&_rdr https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3A... I read that and went "huh. I guess I'm weirder than I thought."
khazhoux 5y ago
Do you read fiction? I stopped when I realized I simply didn’t enjoy it, and I think that’s because I don’t see the scenes.
- JshWright 5y ago
  I listen to fiction audiobooks (I love reading physical non-fiction books, but can't do that for fiction). I can certainly still enjoy the plot of a fiction story, but yeah, the fact that my experience of stories told through text/audio is apparently really limited is sad...
- NateEag 5y ago
  I do. I love reading fiction and got through thousands of fiction books in my teens. My experience of it is quite different from most, as I have come to understand. I never understood what people meant when they said "That character in the movie didn't look at all like I imagined him." I always thought they just meant "I don't think the movie makers came up with a good version." I did try my hand at writing fiction once, and I was boggled at how hard it was to do something like write a military skirmish. I was sketching maps and trying to work out topography and all kinds of details. Now that I know people can visualize the scene then describe it, well... my difficulties make a lot more sense.

NateEag 5y ago

It clicked for me when I read Blake Ross's article on his own discovery of aphantasia: https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3A2862324277332876%7D&path=%2Fnotes%2Fnote%2F&refsrc=deprecated&_rdr https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3A... I read that and went "huh. I guess I'm weirder than I thought."

khazhoux 5y ago

Do you read fiction? I stopped when I realized I simply didn’t enjoy it, and I think that’s because I don’t see the scenes.

JshWright 5y ago
I listen to fiction audiobooks (I love reading physical non-fiction books, but can't do that for fiction). I can certainly still enjoy the plot of a fiction story, but yeah, the fact that my experience of stories told through text/audio is apparently really limited is sad...
NateEag 5y ago
I do. I love reading fiction and got through thousands of fiction books in my teens. My experience of it is quite different from most, as I have come to understand. I never understood what people meant when they said "That character in the movie didn't look at all like I imagined him." I always thought they just meant "I don't think the movie makers came up with a good version." I did try my hand at writing fiction once, and I was boggled at how hard it was to do something like write a military skirmish. I was sketching maps and trying to work out topography and all kinds of details. Now that I know people can visualize the scene then describe it, well... my difficulties make a lot more sense.