4 ms·

All of this is basically just empathy. "If I were in $position, how would I handle reading this". Answer that question for every value of $position your readers

All of this is basically just empathy. "If I were in $position, how would I handle reading this". Answer that question for every value of $position your readers could represent and you won't be far off. If you write a document and only consider how you read it, it's fundamentally a document only designed to be read by you.

LoganDark 3y ago
> All of this is basically just empathy. Or simulation. People have mistaken me for some kind of high-tier empath because my brain constantly (consciously or unconsciously) runs simulations on everything I do. Things I write are based on how I think it will be interpreted, not by whatever decides to come out of my brain. And things that other people are feeling are instantly understood because I can easily run a simulation of what that would feel like for me. Maybe this happens because I'm autistic, maybe it happens because I have a dissociative disorder (DID), but whatever the case is, I definitely think it's interesting.
- Honga 3y ago
  My familiarity is that autistic people often experience heightened empathy not on the simulation/experiential divide but a difference in self other relations. That is, the autistic approach to intentionality places themselves verbatim in the position of the other, rather than the allistic which replaces themselves with the other. I think given the normative social allistic approach, the autistic person generally has a higher pressure to over develop their ability to compensate. Additionally, as this process uses the self as referent, it is less swayed by differences in the other and more prone to being activitated. I believe that this is neither good nor bad, but the austistic person often suffers on people's assumption of being able to choose where their empathy is directed, and doubly due the effects of this trait. Things like strong, real, emotional connections to inanimate objects are an instance of this that can both cause suffering or joy, but socially can be a burden. Thus I can fully believe that your approach is functional and high performing. And that others are often flawed by it. There's an innate integrity in it, because you put yourself directly "in the shit" when you do it. I wouldn't discount it as Machiavellian or as dissociative. Could it be that the dissociation is the cost, not the cause?
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    > Could it be that the dissociation is the cost, not the cause? I don't know. I know that the dissociation mostly developed as an attempt to escape from reality... my theories on this range from "I just really liked computers" to "autism and ADHD ripped away so much control over my body that I don't even want to try to control my body anymore, I just want to be an internet creature". It doesn't have much to do with the simulations, it just makes them better since I have the ability to dissociate, I guess. I will admit you're right, though, about me putting myself in the position of others. I can feel exactly what I would feel if I were there, in that exact moment. Because, in a way, I sometimes am. Since the mind is a complex thing and all that. I'm constantly in multiple places at once, not physically or spiritually, but mentally. It happens when I'm having multiple conversations at once, it happens when I'm context-switching between multiple situations at once, it happens when I'm having cognitive dissonance, and that's not even counting the situations where there are actual other personalities active at the same time because dissociative identity disorder really is a giant clusterfuck.
- growingkittens 3y ago
  Being able to simulate other people's experiences in your mind is a base skill required for empathy. Facing difficulty happens to be a shortcut to empathy: you can imagine how others feel if you experience difficulty in many aspects of existence. You end up with a lot of parallel experiences to run simulations with. These things combined create someone who can regularly act with empathy, or...an empathetic person! Although spooking people by pretending to be an empath is fun.
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    Except I'm more regularly a psychopath. I only care about the feelings of those who are close to me.
    - growingkittens 3y ago
      What leads you to characterize yourself as a psychopath?
      - LoganDark 3y ago
        The fact that my "empathy" can turn off extremely easy and I can completely stop caring about someone in an instant. Or take advantage of them. I don't usually do that, but I have some very cold moments (the autism doesn't help). Plus I'm really good at scaring people by being honest about how much I could be faking my emotions at any given moment.
        growingkittens 3y ago
        A few more questions probing the source of the psychopath belief: - Do you take advantage of people, or do you think of ways to take advantage? - Does your empathy turn off for no discernable reason? - You tell others that you "could be" faking your emotions. Does your external body often display emotions that are different from your internal emotions?
        3y ago

LoganDark 3y ago

> All of this is basically just empathy. Or simulation. People have mistaken me for some kind of high-tier empath because my brain constantly (consciously or unconsciously) runs simulations on everything I do. Things I write are based on how I think it will be interpreted, not by whatever decides to come out of my brain. And things that other people are feeling are instantly understood because I can easily run a simulation of what that would feel like for me. Maybe this happens because I'm autistic, maybe it happens because I have a dissociative disorder (DID), but whatever the case is, I definitely think it's interesting.

Honga 3y ago
My familiarity is that autistic people often experience heightened empathy not on the simulation/experiential divide but a difference in self other relations. That is, the autistic approach to intentionality places themselves verbatim in the position of the other, rather than the allistic which replaces themselves with the other. I think given the normative social allistic approach, the autistic person generally has a higher pressure to over develop their ability to compensate. Additionally, as this process uses the self as referent, it is less swayed by differences in the other and more prone to being activitated. I believe that this is neither good nor bad, but the austistic person often suffers on people's assumption of being able to choose where their empathy is directed, and doubly due the effects of this trait. Things like strong, real, emotional connections to inanimate objects are an instance of this that can both cause suffering or joy, but socially can be a burden. Thus I can fully believe that your approach is functional and high performing. And that others are often flawed by it. There's an innate integrity in it, because you put yourself directly "in the shit" when you do it. I wouldn't discount it as Machiavellian or as dissociative. Could it be that the dissociation is the cost, not the cause?
- LoganDark 3y ago
  > Could it be that the dissociation is the cost, not the cause? I don't know. I know that the dissociation mostly developed as an attempt to escape from reality... my theories on this range from "I just really liked computers" to "autism and ADHD ripped away so much control over my body that I don't even want to try to control my body anymore, I just want to be an internet creature". It doesn't have much to do with the simulations, it just makes them better since I have the ability to dissociate, I guess. I will admit you're right, though, about me putting myself in the position of others. I can feel exactly what I would feel if I were there, in that exact moment. Because, in a way, I sometimes am. Since the mind is a complex thing and all that. I'm constantly in multiple places at once, not physically or spiritually, but mentally. It happens when I'm having multiple conversations at once, it happens when I'm context-switching between multiple situations at once, it happens when I'm having cognitive dissonance, and that's not even counting the situations where there are actual other personalities active at the same time because dissociative identity disorder really is a giant clusterfuck.
growingkittens 3y ago
Being able to simulate other people's experiences in your mind is a base skill required for empathy. Facing difficulty happens to be a shortcut to empathy: you can imagine how others feel if you experience difficulty in many aspects of existence. You end up with a lot of parallel experiences to run simulations with. These things combined create someone who can regularly act with empathy, or...an empathetic person! Although spooking people by pretending to be an empath is fun.
- LoganDark 3y ago
  Except I'm more regularly a psychopath. I only care about the feelings of those who are close to me.
  - growingkittens 3y ago
    What leads you to characterize yourself as a psychopath?
    - LoganDark 3y ago
      The fact that my "empathy" can turn off extremely easy and I can completely stop caring about someone in an instant. Or take advantage of them. I don't usually do that, but I have some very cold moments (the autism doesn't help). Plus I'm really good at scaring people by being honest about how much I could be faking my emotions at any given moment.
      - growingkittens 3y ago
        A few more questions probing the source of the psychopath belief: - Do you take advantage of people, or do you think of ways to take advantage? - Does your empathy turn off for no discernable reason? - You tell others that you "could be" faking your emotions. Does your external body often display emotions that are different from your internal emotions?
        3y ago