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I'm not so sure humans have an inner dialogue. I think what we need to investigate is why humans believe they have an inner dialogue (even though not all humans

by jhickok 15d ago

I'm not so sure humans have an inner dialogue. I think what we need to investigate is why humans believe they have an inner dialogue (even though not all humans report having an inner dialogue), and one of the explanations might be that we actually do have an inner dialogue, and another might be that we have the illusion of an inner dialogue. In fact, this is one of the research areas that Eric Schwitzgebel from OP has explored: https://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/3242/Describing-Inner-Experience-Proponent-Meets https://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/3242/Describing-Inner...

qarl 15d ago
Oh that is delicious, thank you. I am reminded of how my LLMs will make things up to explain their behavior that are entirely fictional.
- jhickok 15d ago
  Yes, another assumption is that our thought process is what leads to an action, when it fact it could possibly be a ride-a-long confabulation that doesn't materialize until needed, i.e. we are asked about why we did what we did.
  - qarl 14d ago
    Yes. I remember the "passenger" episode of Westworld. And that is EXACTLY what LLMs do. They will entirely confabulate a reason for something they have no idea about, if they think they should know about it. They do an incredible job of replicating human behavior.
tstrimple 15d ago
Please disprove the inner dialogue so mine will shut the fuck up sometimes.
- jhickok 15d ago
  I wish I could help, but there are inconsistencies in my inner monologue that does assist in making it retreat into the background a little. For example, I interrogate my inner voice to find out what it *sounds* like; does it sound like me? Does an inner monologue actually make any sound? To me, it doesn't sound like anything, and helps reinforce the fleeting, slippery notion of an inner voice. It makes if feel, to me, as if that inner voice is the smoke from the underlying fire, as it were. You can also disrupt an inner voice by speaking a word out loud. It does seem to impair working memory, unfortunately. Actually, thought suppression in general is associated with causing the target thought to recur more.

by jhickok 15d ago

qarl 15d ago

Oh that is delicious, thank you. I am reminded of how my LLMs will make things up to explain their behavior that are entirely fictional.

jhickok 15d ago
Yes, another assumption is that our thought process is what leads to an action, when it fact it could possibly be a ride-a-long confabulation that doesn't materialize until needed, i.e. we are asked about why we did what we did.
- qarl 14d ago
  Yes. I remember the "passenger" episode of Westworld. And that is EXACTLY what LLMs do. They will entirely confabulate a reason for something they have no idea about, if they think they should know about it. They do an incredible job of replicating human behavior.

tstrimple 15d ago

Please disprove the inner dialogue so mine will shut the fuck up sometimes.

jhickok 15d ago
I wish I could help, but there are inconsistencies in my inner monologue that does assist in making it retreat into the background a little. For example, I interrogate my inner voice to find out what it *sounds* like; does it sound like me? Does an inner monologue actually make any sound? To me, it doesn't sound like anything, and helps reinforce the fleeting, slippery notion of an inner voice. It makes if feel, to me, as if that inner voice is the smoke from the underlying fire, as it were. You can also disrupt an inner voice by speaking a word out loud. It does seem to impair working memory, unfortunately. Actually, thought suppression in general is associated with causing the target thought to recur more.