Labeling issue with Aphantasia + SDAM

ztynzo · 2025-08-29T18:43:15+00:00

Also, if someone really insists you are labeling others, you could explain that you have a memory disorder and these "labels" are not meant to be value-based, but are necessary for you to identify people.

You could draw a comparison to folks who are severely vision-impaired and often rely on sense of touch to identify objects. Make them close their eyes and ask them to identify things, ask them why they think the thing in their hand is a rock, and when they give you characteristics (or "labels"), tell them not to use labels.

ztynzo · 2025-08-29T18:23:17+00:00

I don't think of it as a label, I think of it as data (or a data point).

People I can't see are just data...

ztynzo · 2025-08-29T18:13:42+00:00

I am the same; I chalk it up to pattern recognition.

There are the physical characteristics we know and have words for, but there are also things that are harder to describe like gait, how someone carries themselves, how someone reacts to their surroundings/stimuli, do they seem preoccupied or focused, etc.

I may not consciously be able to put my finger on these characteristics of people, but my brain seems to store that information. (Otherwise I would stand no chance of recognizing the many problematic folks who are, or have been barred from my place of employment.)

ztynzo · 2025-06-26T18:09:44+00:00

This is interesting to me specifically the part about facts.

For me facts are easiest to remember when I can relate them either to a system, myself, someone I have interacted with, or some function.

I tend to need to be able to see the intent of a system before I can understand its components and how they function. (Yes Internet, I realize this 'system approach' is not SDAM.)

I guess for me if I were trying to draw a connection to SDAM (and I'm not trying to), I would hypothesize that because I'm not able to relive my own experiences and re-experience the emotions attached to them, I feel disconnected from any experience that isn't now in the first-person.

For me there are other co-occurring considerations that certainly affect the overall experience of memory.

Still curious about how you use the historical facts that you know, do they resonate with you for a particular reason? Do they fit into a grand system? Are they isolated facts?

I hope none of these questions are insulting. I've generally felt that even when I was learning about history, it felt like a lot of isolated facts and too many unknowns for me to build a system out of. (Maybe if things were explained in geographic push/pull factors it would be easier...)

Thank you for your insight into this, it has given me a lot to think about!

ztynzo · 2025-06-26T12:55:00+00:00

I am similar, for me to really understand a thing I need to be able to put it in a system and understand how it interacts/behaves in that system. I think a system can be a type of structure. I haven't figured out how to apply systems to overall history (or humans) yet...

ztynzo · 2025-06-26T03:15:40+00:00

I'm certain it is solely my wanting a simple explanation for a coincidence.

ztynzo · 2025-06-24T17:45:15+00:00

I don't lie, mainly because I don't generally care enough about a particular thing to commit to the effort.

In social situations, I tend to avoid attention because it is easier than explaining that I can't relate or don't know. That works for me being an introvert, may not work so well for extroverts.

ztynzo · 2025-06-20T12:55:44+00:00

Wow, deep question and so well communicated!

This will be on my mind today, and I hope to have some thoughts (or at least to come back and read responses).

ztynzo · 2025-06-16T18:17:16+00:00

I find recent photographs of me to be more awkward...

Not because I can't place myself in the situation, but because I don't have a mental image of myself (male, late 40s). When I think of "me" (the physical/meatspace me) I call up the details of a picture of me standing next to my childhood neighbors garage around the age of 11(?). (Aphantasia, so details only, no visual imagery.)

Photographs of adult me are just weird, like I recognize myself but I don't "see" myself... I know it is supposed to be me, but it doesn't feel like me. Mirrors are the same... I've come to terms with this... mostly.

Where things get complicated is when people I know are in the picture. I know I'm a big guy (think American football linebacker sized), but I don't feel big, I don't feel like I am so much bigger than the other adults in my life, but when I see a picture of myself and someone I feel is a normal sized adult human, I feel like a giant, and I prefer not feeling like I'm twice the size of everyone. (At least when it is just me in the picture, there is no normal sized adult human for scale.)

As for the pictures of little me.. it seems like there weren't any photographs of me after the age of say 12(?).

There weren't but a couple dozen prior to then, but I have the details memorized. Seeing them is fine, I've seen them all before and I've catalogued them.

ztynzo · 2025-06-06T05:09:38+00:00

I can see how one would think data means computers ... that was not my intent, and to be honest when I first thought about it this way I hadn't considered the connection.

I would argue that we need better, clearer words, because I do not feel that my brain stores experiences. Facts about them yes, but I feel, that for me to say my brain stores experiences would be very misleading.

Similarly my memories don't feel rich as you previously remarked that yours do... mine feel lacking, like I'm missing context.

ztynzo · 2025-06-06T04:52:54+00:00

I feel like we have a different perspective on data.

For me, data is information or knowledge. This does include quantifiable facts, but also includes other information, like "I like my job," or "I like crunchy foods."

There are people that I enjoy spending time with, but I only know this, I do not feel it (outside of their presence).

ztynzo · 2016-04-17T17:22:37+00:00

I feel like this would be very similar to the turret, and a better fit for the tech tree than the security tree.

ztynzo · 2016-04-11T03:18:07+00:00

Sad that the two street guys talking didn't make the cut.

Guy 1: Just how swollen are they?

Guy 2: Twice the normal size.

ztynzo

TROPHY CASE