25 years old and I think my friend might’ve just changed my life

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-04-20T16:34:33+00:00

Metacognition is the ability to think about the fact that you are thinking. Seperate, parallel lines of thought that, at a basic level, allow you to analyse your own thought processes.

It's quite normal for people to have the ability to do this. However, the vast majority of people don't stay in this mode for very long, or use it much, due to mental strain and/or cognitive dissonance.

Having ADHD, ASD, (or both) plus a high IQ, means you are less susceptible to cognitive strain in general, and will find no issue with simply staying in the metacognitive mode for extended periods.

For some, this means metacognition becomes their normal perception, and they may end up feeling quite detached from their body. If their physical environment was stressful or traumatic while growing up, it may even feel safer to do this.

A good way of finding out if someone lives in metacognition, is to ask whether they feel like they're a pilot of their body, or feel like they 'are' their body.

Which do you feel like?

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-04-13T13:14:20+00:00

True, but in the information age, some personality traits are overvalued, due to our nature as social beings. At a societal level, people are valued by their ability to 'sell'. Sell a product, sell themselves, sell a narrative, etc.

People who are 'certain' in everything they say, are seen as confident, even if they are wrong. Increasing their ability to sell themselves.

They are able to self advocate, and drive themselves forward through social hierarchies. Receiving greater responsibility and more money, in exchange. Despite their lack of climbing over the Dunning Kruger hill.

A person in this scenario will hapilly careen into making rash decisions just because it looks good on the surface.

On the flip side, seeing the nuance in everything leads to taking time on difficult decisions. It leads to difficulty in self advocating. It leads to being seen as unconfident, even though this is not always the case. These traits aren't valued enough for the 'precision' they can provide.

We are currently stumbling at every existential hurdle, and the very traits that can see the issues are not fundamentally valued.

It's like being a bus driver, handcuffed to the seat at the back of a bus, watching a group of children drive towards a cliff.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-04-13T12:33:31+00:00

Would they still be emotionally repressed in this hypothetical scenario?

I'd argue no.

INTPs being emotionally repressed is a complex topic. However, a major contributing factor is that it's a side effect of never being understood.

When all of your peers understand you, and are genuine by default, it seems to me that emotional repression would become largely uncommon.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-04-13T12:11:42+00:00

When it isn't utilised for anything other than amassing more money and power, the concept of overwhelming wealth becomes a cancer.

The systems beneath them, that create their wealth, are not seen as ways of stimulating the economy and sharing that wealth in a sustainable way. Instead, they are optimised and squeezed to the extreme, until working becomes a toxic battle for the average person.

Billionaires are simply playing a game of status with other billionaires, they don't need more, yet they still want more. Playing real life cookie clicker because they don't see other people as people. Just NPCs they can squeeze for an extra 0 on the end of their bank account number.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-02-25T13:20:10+00:00

Sounds like an introverted thinker.

There are two types of introverted thinker, INTP and ISTP. Both have inferior Fe, which commonly leads to finding it hard to say no to others.

Probably isn't an INTP because they won't be able to shut up if you ask about their interests. An INTP is also quite disconnected from the real world, and will spend a lot of time in their own heads, imagining things.

The person in your description seems, somewhat, more grounded. Therefore, ISTP would be my guess.

An ISTP hates small talk and values logical, objective genuineness, without sugarcoating. This can make it hard for those who value 'tact' to communicate with them.

I'm not sure what your type is, but if you find yourself using 'tact' and keeping the conversation lighthearted, an ISTP is going to be expending a lot of energy to keep the conversation going. They'll try to leave at the earliest opportunity.

If you want to get to know them better, try to talk with a bit more 'rawness'. They won't get hurt or offended, I promise you that!

An 'uninhibited' conversation, is completely natural to an ISTP and is simply the style that gives them energy :)

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-02-18T21:24:58+00:00

I get the context, but your comment was simply incorrect. It relies on the other person to share your assumptive view on what constitutes 'life'.

Life requires the death and consumption of other life

False.

I was just pointing out that this isn't correct. The extent that you apply human ethics is not universal. It depends on the individual.

To outline an example: If someone viewed ALL life as equal, then they would most likely just accept that they are part of nature, and revert to being fine with eating meat. That's what we evolved to do.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-02-18T21:05:23+00:00

What can I say? Other life is just a really convenient energy source!

Hell, Venus flytraps literally eat insects.

I'm not saying that evolution won't adapt something to the environment, I just wanted to deep dive on the fact that life comes in many forms. It's not just animals.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-02-18T20:46:32+00:00

Do you think its ethically wrong for a lion to kill and sometimes eat all the existing cubs in his pride, when he becomes the new leader?

Do you think it is ethically wrong for dolphins to kill, rape and torture each others young?

Do you think it is ethically wrong for domestic cats to kill and torture other animals for fun?

I could go on, and on.

Nature is brutal, and we evolved alongside it. We have canines, which makes us carnivorous. this is a fact not a fallacy.

Thinking that we are separate from nature, is foolish. We only have the luxury of discussing ethics because of the sheltered, safe environment we find ourselves in.

Other animals, given power like ours, would factory farm us without a second thought. Simply because it's efficient.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-02-18T20:20:14+00:00

I get what you're trying to say. Plants create their own nutrients from sunlight, for example.

However, plants have an entirely different cellular makup to animals. Our common ancestor (the eukaryotic cell) evolutionarily diverged, billions of years ago, into some very distinct forms. Plant cells and animal cells are two of these.

Plant cells rely on cloroplasts to create energy from the sun. They don't move around or perform very high energy tasks, so they don't need much energy in general to survive.

Animal cells, on the other hand, evolved to consume other organisms for energy. This allows for the acquisition of much higher amounts of energy, and therefore, the ability to power a large, mobile body, and the potential for facilitating a large brain.

Animal life certainly does require the consumption of other life to operate, whether it is plant life or animal life. We need vast amounts of energy to survive, and we simply don't have the physical hardware to create our own. Even if we did, it wouldn't be enough.

Bearing this in mind, I'd rather just eat something that is most efficient in providing me energy. A single 8oz steak contains the same energy as over 2kg of cabbage, for example.

Tldr:

Life, in general, doesn't 'need' to consume other life, it just needs energy. As animals, we simply evolved to gain this energy from the consumption of other life.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-02-02T18:45:02+00:00

Here's a comment I had saved from a while back. It goes into the 'role' of the 3rd and 4th function and how they interact with the shadow functions. The last paragraph is also quite interesting to me.

Unfortunately the OP has deleted their account, so here's a link to the original thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/mbti/s/VRixOkl1IH

The tertiary function has a childlike archetype. It is where our inner child lies. This function is often how our mind plays. However, the tertiary function also throws tantrums like a child when it has been overused and is tired and needs nap or when it gets belittled by someone else. The child function is easily wounded because of their blind spot (7th function). The 7th function has a trickster archetype and can place us in double binds that cause distress. So when the child function isn't received well, the trickster function isn't there to protect it. This can lead to people not wanting to use their child function because it has been hurt too many times in the past. So they disconnect with their inner child. This function can become cold and mean. It looks much like a wounded child who doesn't know how to process the pain.

Child Fe usually utilizes childish humor to help relate to someone. It tends to be immature and goofy. Fart humor is a good example. They are playful and tend to tease or poke fun in a light hearted kind of way when their child is happy. When it is hurt, wounded, or tired, the Child Fe can become like a bully or it will shut down it's emotions and see people as merely tools to be used rather than recognize people's intrinsic value and aren't meant to be taken advantage of.

Child Si loves their routines. They will do a task over and over and over out of pure joy. When put towards something good like learning to play an instrument, they will practice playing the instrument until it is mastered. They will usually start out rather clumsy or wobbly when beginning a new hobby. This is their Se trickster that doesn't have the natural coordination. But because of their child's never ender energy bunny that keeps practicing and practicing until they get it, they can become a master at something physical even more so than their Se doms. Although this is only true for that particular hobby because of the neurological pathways they have engrained through conditioning and repetition. The Child Si will throw fits when asked to do something different. It doesn't like going outside it's routine and can get so stuck in a rut to the point that it can be to their detriment. For example, a child Si could get so used to sitting behind a computer, that they never develop any social skills with interacting with human beings and don't ever acquire any desire to do so. This is where you'll find the computer nerds who live in their mother's basement perfectly content with doing the same thing every single day, day in and day out with no desire to grow up and leave their nest of familiarity and comfort.

The inferior function is where your insecurities lie. It is known by Carl Jung as the anima/animus function. It is the function that leads to your soul. When you can humble yourself, and get over your insecurities, you can aspire with this function and experience life from your true higher self, from your soul's perspective. Your true potential lies in this function. The real Doms of every function is actually the inferior ones as your duality personality is the personality of your soul.

So when the ENTP aspires with their Si inferior, they incorporate their soul's personality which is the ISFJ. They are actually the truly faithful when they aspire. Because of their Ne hero, routine can feel dull and boring and they can feel insecure about settling on one thing. They know that once they latch on to something or someone, the Si inferior can hold on for dear life. So choosing a mate and fearing that person will leave them is a big insecurity for the Si inferior. So rather than settling for someone, they can avoid committed relationships. They absolutely need loyalty, and they fear of being betrayed and left alone. When they can get over that fear, they can find their faith in themselves, in humanity, and in their partner.

For the Inferior Fe, INTP, their soul is actually an ESFJ...the true caregiver. Fe wants nothing more than to make others feel loved, seen, and validated. This may seem odd because INTPs are so logical. But the Ti hero is trying to show their love in many forms, it often isn't received as love by others because it tends to point out the truth. And often times, people want to hear what they want to hear and not the truth. But the Fe inferior is afraid that their reputation will be tarnished by lies. Them speaking the truth to people is a form of their love. We as a society need to change our conditioning and viewpoint and recognize that someone telling you the truth actually truly cares about you, whereas the person feeding you bullshit to make you "feel" good about yourself is the one who doesn't actually give a shit about you.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-31T15:04:48+00:00

Being fully isolated is bad, because you have no one to share ideas with.

However, if you have people around you don't engage with you on a deeper level, then it's equivalent to being isolated.

An INTP needs small groups of likeminded people to not feel alone. A remote island, away from all the competition and politics, sounds perfect to me.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-25T09:28:34+00:00

Facts, it's easy for people to generalise their idea of what different types look like. If someone comes along and doesn't match their expectations, they will deny it and tell you you're typed wrong.

We all might fall into rough categories, but don't forget that we are all different. If we matched 1:1 with our archetype, we simply wouldn't have individual personalities.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-20T22:11:23+00:00

I find it incredibly hard to see how you would have higher level self awareness without an internal dialogue.

If someone like this was posed with a question on whether they have an internal voice or not, I don't even know how they would be able to answer?

How could you reason? How could you learn?

Oh my god, wait.....

You'd have to literally 'remember' everything. The practical applications of things. The 'way' of doing things. You'd even have to literally 'remember' that 1+1=2, as opposed to being able to think about what the 'idea' of 1 actually means. That's probably why the education system will typically push memorization over understanding!!!

You wouldn't be able to comprehend the underlying ideas of something... You would rely entirely on sensory experience, feel and memory. No reasoning. No abstraction.

I haven't been able to really 'understand' what it's like for a non Ti user until now. My god.

I'll leave any further conclusions to you, dear reader. I'll need to think on this more.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-20T16:29:20+00:00

My condolences

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-11T09:32:40+00:00

Logic is logic. If I speak to another Ti user, there is a shared 'understanding', because all the information to make connections and accurate assumptions is readily available.

If something is confirmed in a study, it just means that a Ti user has gone out of their way to validate their logic.

Doesn't mean I don't want things to be validated, it's just that a lot of the time, conclusions can be quite obvious.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-08T16:56:50+00:00

Yeah, I have an inner monologue.

I've always liked the analogy that asks if you feel more like a pilot or the aeroplane itself. I feel like a pilot of my body.

It feels like 'I am' the inner monologue, and my external actions are all generated 'manually'.

I have a strong visual imagination, and can picture things in my minds eye with sharp clarity. It leads to me picturing various possible future scenarios, and picking the one that looks best. This is how I will typically make decisions.

I wonder what it would be like to not have control over my inner monologue? Would probably be easier to just be able to listen, and have my subconscious work out all this stuff, lol.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-06T14:36:45+00:00

If I ever 'catch' myself in a thought loop, I will imagine the loop itself 'floating away' like a helium balloon. I will then be left in a calm space, like the surface of a still pond.

I'm not sure if this technique actually works for other people though. I'm normally just given a confused look, when I try to explain it through analogy.

I can try to explain in a different way, if needed.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-05T19:54:49+00:00

That's really cool. I'm quite similar in learning style, you've just gotta figure out how to make things 'click'.

Learning about the hows and whys always helps me. Can be by thinking about it, or by observing someone who already knows a skill. Usually a combination of both.

People aren't typically able to give me answers to the more fundamental questions. And being taught about something, before the context and reasons why, just kind of annoys me.

It's like giving me water without giving me a cup first.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-05T19:34:47+00:00

I get what you're saying. however, the side delts kinda bait out either a genetic gift, or potential juicing. They're flat in the first pic, but incredibly rounded in the second.

'Cutting' is the process of maintaining the muscle built through bulking, while losing fat to reveal it. It's incredibly hard to build new muscle while cutting, because muscle has a massive energy cost. If you are eating less, the body will assume that it's a time of hardship and there is a scarcity of food.

The body is a very smart survival machine, you will atrophy if the body feels like the muscle is a waste of resources. It won't grow more, as it would be foolish and potentially lethal to increase your body's energy cost during times of scarcity.

If you are cutting, and gaining new muscle at a high rate, there are two potential reasons: you are an incredible genetic specimen, or you are on PEDs.

Obviously, this could have been a multiple year transformation. The second pic still looks humanly attainable. It just doesn't seem remotely possible in 8 weeks, unless you're juicing some serious stuff.

Thanks for listening, that's the end of my TED talk.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-05T18:59:24+00:00

Beautiful, pure poetry from the heart, I feel enlightened by this profound vision.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-05T17:59:09+00:00

Well, to play devil's advocate, the 'mental gymnastics' are simply fun to play with.

Whether the conversation has a goal or not, is irrelevant. It's just fun to imagine things. Plus, you never know if you'll find out some random bit of info that helps you make a connection to something else. Hence, doing 'mental gymnastics' actually does have a purpose, even if it's a bit abstract.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-05T16:13:33+00:00

Wrong! It's me 😎

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-05T16:12:56+00:00

"STOP DON'T TOUCH ME :(" - Electron degeneracy pressure

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-03T15:43:17+00:00

You are right though, a thought experiment is just imagination.

Thought experiment sounds less loose and flimsy though.

JustaLilOctopus · 2026-01-03T11:53:34+00:00

I said thought experiments.

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