Experience.Computer is a slow-radio programme exploring aphantasia, creativity, and the imagination.
IN THIS INTERVIEW
Jay Springett and guest Marco Giancotti, a thinking-tool artisan, explore aphantasia, SDAM, and spatial memory. They discuss writing as thinking, cognitive frameworks, and wonder why looking at a picture of a sour fruit (Umeboshi) doesn’t make everyone’s mouth water.
Then they discuss:
Spatial presence without mental imagery
The shared ontology of digital and physical objects
Writing as a process of refactoring thoughts
"Framing" and "virtual physics" as cognitive tools
A huge thank you to Marco for responding so enthusiastically to my Bluesky DMs after I spent an afternoon binge-reading his fantastic blog, Aether Mug — which is definitely not about science, philosophy, philosophers, languages, Japan, or picture frames, or boxes, (though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise).
QUOTES
“ I tried but no image no picture appeared in my mind.”
“My perception of what I feel that is happening, is that there’s a separation between this the actual sensory information, and how you accept it and how you internalise it ”
*During COVID, I was flying and I went to Italy and then flew back to Japan. We had to take a test to see if we were infected, and basically, we had to spit in a little vial. There was this little cabin or space where you could spend a few minutes producing your saliva. In each of these little cubicles, they put a picture of Umeboshi. Which is a kind of dried peach—extremely sour. For most people, just looking at it is enough for them to produce a lot of saliva, so it makes it easy for them to spit into the vial. For me, it didn’t do anything at all.”
“I have this definition of framings as the things that you take to exist in a certain thought. Because you cannot think about the whole world and everything that you know about the world at any given moment, you have to focus on a few things depending on what you're trying to do.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Marco Giancotti is a thinking-tool artisan, writer, and engineer.
He is the author of Plankton Valhalla, a collection of deep essays about the Universe, and Aether Mug, his blog about cognition, science, culture, philosophy, and other mysterious things like that. He lives in Japan and has aphantasia, just like Jay.
IN YOUR MIND
Has this interview sparked any thoughts or questions about your own mind’s eye, creative process, or inner experience? I’d love to hear your insights! Share your reflections in the comments below or on social media!
If you have ideas for guests you would like to hear from in the next season, add your suggestions in the comments; or share this episode and tag them in Substack Notes.
Your recommendations will help guide the conversations that follow.
LINKS
Subscribe to Experience.Computer
Permanently Moved - Episode #302
Monsters In The Mirror
What are large language models really? On AI, Language, and the new entities that wear language as their skin.
ABOUT THE SHOW
In 2022 writer and host Jay Springett discovered he had aphantasia - the inability to voluntarily create mental images in one’s mind. For 36 years he thought ‘picture this’ was a metaphor.
Experience.Computer is slow radio about high tech. An interview show exploring perception, experience and expression. The show examines how people perceive the world, and how they work with the creative tools they use to make their work with.
ABOUT THE HOST
Jay Springett is a strategist, producer, and cultural theorist. His professional work focuses on how worlds of all kinds are run; shaped, steered, and kept coherent over time. He has hosted the personal essay podcast Permanently Moved since 2018, and Experience.Computer since 2023.
Jay is currently working on his first book ‘Slop Machines of Loving Grace‘ and writes online at thejaymo.net
