# Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking
[Source: Psyche/Ideas, 23 December 2020](https://psyche.co/ideas/talking-out-loud-to-yourself-is-a-technology-for-thinking)
## Summary
Very interesting piece on how thinking aloud (or generally expressing oneself in order to think) is actually a good thing. The author argues that:
> Speaking out loud is not only a medium of communication, but a technology of thinking: it encourages the formation and processing of thoughts.
## On self-talk
> if we can’t discover something just by thinking about it, we might discover it in the process of free speech. ... we usually hold an abstract beginning of a thought, but active speech helps to turn the obscure thought into a whole idea. It’s not thought that produces speech but, rather, speech is a creative process that in turn generates thought.
> -- ‘On the Gradual Formation of Thoughts During Speech’ (1805)
This again resonates with the idea that [deep thinking/problem solving is (I guess for many) difficult to perform when one just sits and thinks](https://qoto.org/@FailForward/105522122721928195). Expressing oneself forces process of structuring thoughts into some more coherent structure/scaffolding/framework and thus it becomes easier to spot mistakes, solva a problem and generally advance.
## On rubber-duck debugging
> Speaking out loud ... allows the retrieval of our thoughts in full, using rhythm and intonation that emphasise their pragmatic and argumentative meaning, and encourages the creation of developed, complex ideas.
> Not only does speech retrieve pre-existing ideas, it also creates new information in the retrieval process, just as in the process of writing. Speaking out loud is inventive and creative – each uttered word and sentence doesn’t just bring forth an existing thought, but also triggers new mental and linguistic connections.
Now this resonates with me quite a bit. As an engineer, I often solve technical problems. A situation like this happens a lot:
1. me: problem!
2. me: think, experiment, fail, backtrack, rinse and repeat, fail, end up frustrated, throw my hands in the air.
3. me: go seek a rubber duck, or a cardboard dog colleague
4. colleague: listens carefully (or not - it doesn't matter)
5. me: explain, explain, explain
6. me: Eureka!
7. problem solved.
This is called [Rubber duck debugging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging) in software engineering circles. It actually works very well with living rubber ducks.
> By forcing us to articulate ourselves more fully, self-talk summons up the image of an imagined listener or interrogator more vividly. In this way, it allows us to question ourselves more critically by adopting an external perspective on our ideas, and so to consider shortcomings in our arguments – all while using our own speech.
And this hints that it can work equally well with inanimate rubber ducks too.
> ... the best solution for creative blocks isn’t to try to think in front of an empty page and simply wait for thoughts to arrive, but actually to continue to speak and write (anything), trusting this generative process.
Absolutely. Often **doing _something_ trumps doing the _right thing_**. This is the procrastination killer pill.
## On walking while thinking
> ... evidence shows that movement enhances thinking and learning, and both are activated in the same centre of motor control in the brain.
Since around high-school age I like to walk (mostly outdoors, but not exclusively) while reading books, reviewing papers and generally studing. It always made me more focused and perceptive. Finally a piece of research confirming I am not mad (as some around me suspect(ed)).
> activities such as playing a musical instrument, writing, speaking or dancing don’t start in the brain and then emanate out to the body as actions; rather, they entail the mind and body working in concert as a creative, integrated whole, unfolding and influencing each other in turn.
Now, this very much echoes research on [embodied cognition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embodied_cognition) and ideas related to [situated agents in AI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situated_robotics). Roughly, that intelligent behaviour cannot be decoupled from the environment it is performed in. This observation underpins the field of [behavioural robotics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-based_robotics) with [Rodney Brooks](https://rodneybrooks.com/) being its prophet.
### On usefulness of friction in expressing oneself
Finally there is this interesting sidenote on expression as friction:
> Elon Musk: ‘Our brain spends a lot of effort compressing a complex concept into words,’ he said in a recent interview, ‘and there’s a lot of loss of information that occurs when compressing a complex concept into words.’
> ...
> However, what Musk chalks up as ‘effort’, friction and information loss also involves cognitive gain. Speech is not merely a conduit for the transmission of ideas, a replaceable medium for direct communication, but a generative activity that enhances thinking.
I agree.
