Yeah, that all makes sense. I think solitude probably exists along a spectrum, where in listening to music maybe you have 8⁄10 solitude instead of 10⁄10 but in watching a TV show you only get 2⁄10. The relevant question is probably “to what extent are the outputs of other minds influencing your thoughts”.
Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder why we’re focusing on the outputs of other minds. What about other things that influence your thoughts? Like, I don’t know, bumble bees flying around you? I’m afraid of bumble bees so I know I’d have trouble focusing on my own thoughts in that scenario.
That said, I’m sure that outputs of other minds are probably a large majority of what is intrusive and prevents you from focusing on your own thoughts. But it still seems to me like the thing we actually care about is being able to focus on your own thoughts, not just reducing your exposure to the outputs of other minds.
Yeah, that all makes sense. I think solitude probably exists along a spectrum, where in listening to music maybe you have 8⁄10 solitude instead of 10⁄10 but in watching a TV show you only get 2⁄10. The relevant question is probably “to what extent are the outputs of other minds influencing your thoughts”.
Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder why we’re focusing on the outputs of other minds. What about other things that influence your thoughts? Like, I don’t know, bumble bees flying around you? I’m afraid of bumble bees so I know I’d have trouble focusing on my own thoughts in that scenario.
That said, I’m sure that outputs of other minds are probably a large majority of what is intrusive and prevents you from focusing on your own thoughts. But it still seems to me like the thing we actually care about is being able to focus on your own thoughts, not just reducing your exposure to the outputs of other minds.