One other difference for a person sitting and thinking with their eyes closed is that they have not been doing this all their lives, and have the memories and o

One other difference for a person sitting and thinking with their eyes closed is that they have not been doing this all their lives, and have the memories and other mental abilities that have come with interacting physically with the world. Even so (or perhaps because of it?) most people do not cope well with extended sensory deprivation. The experience of someone who has had only very limited sensory experience of the world might tell us more about this, and in that regard, there was an article not so long ago here on HN about Helen Keller’s memories of what her life seemed like before Ann Sullivan began attempting to communicate with her. My recollection is that she reported having little sense of herself in the world until that time. http://scentofdawn.blogspot.com/2011/07/before-soul-dawn-helen-keller-on-her.html http://scentofdawn.blogspot.com/2011/07/before-soul-dawn-hel...