Unable To Imagine

A software engineer revealed inability to imagine things.

20:49 29 April 2016

Aphantasia is a condition in which people are unable to imagine visual images. Many have it but very few actually realise it.

 

Software engineer and Mozilla founder Blake Ross writes a blog post about the condition to create public awareness.

 

He wrote: “I just learned something about you and it is blowing my goddamned mind,”

 

“Here it is: You can visualize things in your mind,”

 

“I have never visualized anything in my entire life. |I can’t ‘see’ my father’s face or a bouncing blue ball, my childhood bedroom or the run I went on ten minutes ago. I thought “counting sheep” was a metaphor.

 

“I’m 30 years old and I never knew a human could do any of this. And it is blowing my goddamned mind.”

 

He said that he accidentally heard about the condition and realised that he has it as the idea of a “mental picture” made no sense to him.

 

“The very foundation of the question does not compute in my brain,” he wrote. “It’s like asking me if the number seven has any stubble, or if the puppy is on a leash. What puppy?”