Lonely people's brains are different due to excess of imaginary social contact

Re:Lonely people's brains are different due to excess of ima... by war1025 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:15PM (#25432338)

This headline immediately made me think of the "tulpa" concept I came across a few months back.

It's basically creating an imaginary friend, except "different" somehow?

Tried to find a decent representative article or video, but didn't really feel comfortable linking to any of them.

The biggest impression I got from looking into the concept was that these people were profoundly lonely.

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Re:Lonely people's brains are different due to excess of ima... by jetrink on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:50PM (#25432761)

I really liked the episode of Reply All about tulpas. It's not easy to listen to though.

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/49hr6k

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Re:Lonely people's brains are different due to excess of ima... by war1025 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @03:38PM (#25434932)

Just finished the podcast.

I thought the husband had an entirely valid request of "Your tulpa can't be in a sexual relationship with someone else"

Obviously I don't know anything about the situation beyond what is in the podcast, but up until that point it seemed like a "my husband won't accept my quirks" type of thing.

After they read his excerpt, I was much more inclined to think she was really the one at fault for their relationship falling apart.

All I can say is I'm glad I'm not having to deal with that situation.

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Re:Lonely people's brains are different due to excess of ima... by war1025 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:29PM (#25433281)

This is very interesting...

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Re:Lonely people's brains are different due to excess of ima... by lliilliillii on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:20PM (#25432386)

The one question I have is where the data comes from that constructs most of these internal experiences. Is it mainly information in near recent experiences or observations, is it an aggregate that is somewhat in relative isolation to observable 'reality' that develops over time and if so, are there objective types of experiences that promote mutation of the internal experience? Can some of those consist of more internal experiences, and if so, at what threshold does such an internal experience become a self-sustaining feed back loop?

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