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Parallel Processing (Experiences & Practice) Megathread


Luminesce

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A lot of people in the last couple of years have been claiming to have experiences most would call "Parallel processing", though since this subject never went anywhere productive in the past (it was largely deemed impossible) there's a stigma (or a perceived stigma) around talking about it. But there are definitely at least similar-enough experiences, however rare, that some may call parallel processing that are worth talking about, even if they're unique to the system having them and not learnable. Of course, we also don't know that they're not learnable if no one tries.

 

So this thread's purpose is being a place for any discussion or practice of what could reasonably be called parallel processing. Whether offering your own experiences or discussing the subject or both, and actual research on multitasking and related phenomena is also very welcome.

 

Note parallel processing is more of an umbrella term than a single defined experience. The human brain is of course capable of doing many things at once, and when it comes to conscious activity, it can generally work with different parts of the brain doing different things. Walking and talking is easy; walking and talking to your tulpas tends to be too; walking and talking to your tulpas in the wonderland shouldn't be too difficult, so then if we replace "walking" with slightly more involved activities, we should end up with the slightest basis for what most people who say they have "parallel processing"-experiences may have, right?

 

Dunno, hard to discuss without a thread to do so, so here you go.

 

 

And one last reminder that ability to do things that could be considered "parallel processing" is extremely likely tied to the individual biologically. It may or may not be able to be learned or at least practiced, but undoubtedly some people are just naturally good at certain things, so you may not be able to experience what someone else does and that's okay.

 


 

Psychological refactory period appears not to be a significant impediment for 2.5% of the population, AZ:

 

Supertaskers: Profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability, 2010

On Supertaskers and the Neural Basis of Efficient Multitasking, 2015

 

Supertaskers are able to multitask without a drop in performance. In fMRI, their brains show less activation of task-relevant areas than controls. The source of their abilities is unknown. It is unknown if one is born a supertasker or can become one.

 

For most people, practice at multitasking does not result in improved performance. People who believe themselves to be good at multitasking usually aren't. But supertaskers tend not to believe that they are good at multitasking, perhaps because they have never felt the strain of it and don't even notice when they do it.

 

Some parts of PP may be "you can't get there from here" phenomena. Given that PP seems progressively more likely in large systems, it may be that systems like the 5000 member Anachronic Army couldn't develop in the first place without a naturally supertasking brain. But hundreds of systems have been making lengthy reports of extremely advanced PP for decades. So somehow, it works, even though the extent to which one can improve at it is an open question. There are some exercises scattered across the forum, but most systems reporting PP seem to have had it from the beginning or had it emerge gradually without doing anything specific for it.

 

 

{Since this thread was merged with this one at first, I'd like to specify that I intended this to mainly be a thread about actually attempting/talking about parallel processing experiences, not really for if it's possible or how exactly to define it.}

Hi! I'm Lumi, host of Reisen, Tewi, Flandre and Lucilyn.

Everyone deserves to love and be loved. It's human nature.

My tulpas and I have a Q&A thread, which was the first (and largest) of its kind. Feel free to ask us about tulpamancy stuff there.

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Note parallel processing is more of an umbrella term than a single defined experience. The human brain is of course capable of doing many things at once, and when it comes to conscious activity, it can generally work with different parts of the brain doing different things. Walking and talking is easy; walking and talking to your tulpas tends to be too; walking and talking to your tulpas in the wonderland shouldn't be too difficult, so then if we replace "walking" with slightly more involved activities, we should end up with the slightest basis for what most people who say they have "parallel processing"-experiences may have, right?

This right here is what frustrates me about the conversation. If you say "parallel processing" to 10 different people, they'll all hear ten different things. Makes it hard to figure out if parallel processing is viable or not

 

If people are only claiming to do the kind of multi-tasking things a singleton could do, except with their tulpa, we could call that "tulpa multi-tasking" or "tulpatasking" and people would know what the hell you're saying. If people are saying they can only do these things because they have a tulpa, that's what I would consider to be parallel processing, but not everyone uses the term that way, so it doesn't matter

We are
Uncannyfellow: host - 12/07/1992
Kanade: tulpa - 9/16/2018
Cornelia: tulpa - 9/31/2018
Nikki: soulbonded walkin - 5/6/2023

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there's a stigma (or a perceived stigma) around talking about it.

 

Yeah there is but there shouldn't be. I heard the subject of parellel processing called a 'taboo' on the discord a few days ago. It isn't a taboo subject, just a contested one. People shouldn't be afraid of rocking the boat.

 

Psychological refractory period appears not to be a significant impediment for 2.5% of the population, AZ:

 

Interesting. Perhaps it isn't impossible after all and the consensus in the scientific community is wrong (which is very often the case). However, according to those numbers, it probably wouldn't be possible for 97.5% of the population to achieve.

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So all I've got for now is our recent dabbling with jumping jacks, funnily enough. I like to count them so I know how many I've done throughout the day, and it's also tempting to talk to my tulpas during them.. and that makes things messy. Now obviously, the physical act of doing jumping jacks and the mental act of counting are easy enough to do together - they're neither parallel processing nor even multitasking, because multitasking is basically fake parallel processing where you quickly and efficiently switch your focus back and forth between tasks. Nobody "parallel processes" texting while driving for example - you switch the majority of your focus to and from the road, and that's why it's dangerous. If you're good at multitasking, you give both more or less your full focus, while switched onto them, and maybe you can even do it quickly enough it's seamless.

 

Parallel processing would be doing both at the same time. It's an interesting brain muscle to try and stretch, and I think our jumping jacks conversations were doing just that. I wanted to do jumping jacks, and keep a number count in my head, and talk to my tulpas. The last two tend to conflict, forcing ~multitasking going between talking to them and getting their responses, and incrementing the number. Keeping in mind multitasking's "switching focus" can happen seamlessly a number of times in just ten seconds and with perhaps varying levels of focus splitting, the activity that would possibly qualify under the umbrella of "parallel processing" would be doing both at once.

 

Now, I can't parallel process, like, at all. Supposedly a few of our members can, and I'd love to hear their experiences. All I have to offer is that I messed with different forms of keeping count, like visualizing the numbers instead of counting them mentally-verbally. That kind of worked although it's not as reliable as a real count, while attempting the flat out "parallel process" style of keeping the number going while talking to my tulpas felt like a wall with a tiny bit of leeway.

 

That's right, as someone who's done TONS of messing around with different mental muscles, I've actually got a knack for feeling what sorts of tasks could be improved with practice, and that was one of them. Dream recall is a perfect example and my go-to, you may hit it like a wall too not being able to remember any bits of your dreams when you wake up, but with practice you can slowly get better. While I'm certainly not motivated to do it, I did get roughly the same feeling when trying to talk to and hear my tulpas while keeping the counting going, that if we practiced this I'd be able to get better at it.

 

Is that (or would that be) true parallel processing? I dunno, maybe, maybe not. But hey, I purposely said parallel processing was an umbrella term in the OP just so we wouldn't have to worry about that. In tulpamancy, I think it's most useful to define parallel processing as an umbrella term that can apply to any experience of parallel-feeling phenomena. I will probably keep referring to acts that very obviously take the same part of the brain, like two system members speaking at once, as "true parallel processing", but as always the important part of tulpamancy is the individual experience.

 

So if you've got an experience or two or many that you think would fall under that umbrella, I'd like to hear about them here. With enough experiences gathered (rather than just debate), maybe we can start to better piece together the different types of "parallel processing" people experience or struggle to experience, and better yet, if it's possible to learn to have these experiences or if it remains only a biological predisposition.

Hi! I'm Lumi, host of Reisen, Tewi, Flandre and Lucilyn.

Everyone deserves to love and be loved. It's human nature.

My tulpas and I have a Q&A thread, which was the first (and largest) of its kind. Feel free to ask us about tulpamancy stuff there.

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Yeah there is but there shouldn't be. I heard the subject of parellel processing called a 'taboo' on the discord a few days ago. It isn't a taboo subject, just a contested one. People shouldn't be afraid of rocking the boat.

 

 

Interesting. Perhaps it isn't impossible after all and the consensus in the scientific community is wrong (which is very often the case). However, according to those numbers, it probably wouldn't be possible for 97.5% of the population to achieve.

 

Did you look at those study links and read through them, the scientists are very sure this is going on in that small group as there is a very distinct large difference between the small group who can do this and those who can not.

 

Now obviously, the physical act of doing jumping jacks and the mental act of counting are easy enough to do together - they're neither parallel processing nor even multitasking, because multitasking is basically fake parallel processing where you quickly and efficiently switch your focus back and forth between tasks. Nobody "parallel processes" texting while driving for example - you switch the majority of your focus to and from the road, and that's why it's dangerous

 

By that 2010 study of supertaskers https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758%2FPBR.17.4.479.pdf

, I don't think anyone can say for sure that "nobody" can parallel process texting while driving seeing the study showed that the small group of supertaskers didn't have any of their focus fall while driving while they were on the phone unlike the normal group (look at the graph of the study "break reaction time (msec) driving measures" it's astounding, a completely flat line.. it took them NO extra focus at all to be using the phone and driving. One can text someone on a phone without looking at it as long as one remembers what the buttons are.. so it is quite possible that one of these supertaskers could do that without falling concentration on their driving as they don't need to take their eyes off the road to text. The limit of their skill in this was not tested so we really do not know how much this small group of people can parallel process at once.

 

Parallel processing would be doing both at the same time. It's an interesting brain muscle to try and stretch, and I think our jumping jacks conversations were doing just that

 

From that graph which blew me away the most with the results with the flat line (no distraction from the tasks at all), it appears there is no gradient of results with this supertasker group. One either had it or just didnt. So from that that graph result it appears to be something which probably can't be slowly improved till you have it. You have this ability or you just dont.

 

I want to know if a independent tulpa can suddenly activate that skill and that is what I hope for. My tulpa has already shown me it can do things with my brain which I personally can not usually do eg when I heard the music playing from it and what was even more interesting is that music sounds different to my tulpa than it does to me.. it was like when I heard the music my tulpa had obviously created (he was listening to it) I was fully aware of all the individual instruments in that orchestra being listened too at the same time.. every single note of every instrument in the music.

 

When I personally listen to actual music playing.. I do not even have my listening skills there to that degree of the music I heard that day from him.. he was mentally processing that music in the way I don't .. it was like he multiple parallel processing what that music was doing with a different awareness and in an equal way with all the instruments. (With my no ability to imagine things well, I'm not a person who can even imagine and listen to music in my head let alone be able to imagine each instrument playing at the same time in my head.. so my tulpa is able to do things with my mind which I can not usually do (it was like he was able to take in 10 different trains on thought on that musics instruments and make clarity of it at once and this is why I believe this whole multi-tasking thing is possible with a tulpa).

 

I'm finding this very hard to explain the experience I had with him but just believe me that I heard that music in a way I don't even get the clarity of a bands instruments in listening to music not coming from my brain. (and this happened to me while wide awake and standing at my sink doing the dishes, it was a spontaneous thing.. I hadnt been even thinking of him when I was suddenly hearing what he was listening too inside my head).

 

I guess another way to put it.. if you listen to some real music with lots of instruments (big orchestra) you (well I think most would do this) would move your focus around if focusing on the different instruments. You may pick out the drums, pick out the symbols, pick out the guitars etc.. this is how my normal awareness works (though of cause one hears the music as a whole too but that's not the clarity level of listening Im meaning).. that is not multiple processing. (if you think to focus on the drums.. can you notice that the focus on them then isnt equal to the other individual instruments, your attention has been diverted, you've had to remove some focus from the others). My normal processing - I'm focusing on different things and moving my focus about. But that is not how my tulpa consciously hears it if Im hearing it through him (but he also creates the music some how he's listening too).

 

"I will probably keep referring to acts that very obviously take the same part of the brain, like two system members speaking at once, as "true parallel processing", but as always the important part of tulpamancy is the individual experience."

 

I get two voices at once all the time but I don't refer to that as parallel processing of the type I want to achieve (I think everyone be easily capable of experiencing two voices at once). eg I'll think of asking my tulpa a question in my mind voice but while I'm asking it, I'm already at the same time getting an answer back in my own mind voice. I just think of it being a too similar task to refer to it as parallel processing and not much thought is going into mind voice thinking.

Jesse (human male) DOB 16th April 2013 

Working on imposition

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[Rouge] Our system has experienced something parallel processing-ish in the past when Torea first appeared. It's been nearly a year to the date that this happened. At the time, our system was just Azure, Damien, Jade and I. Damien and Jade were inactive I think, but while I was reading a book on the outside, Azure starting sending me thoughts in gibberish along with a mental image of what is now Torea's form. The gibberish is also where Torea's name came from. Azure thought that this event was a dream. We decided to try and make Torea a wonderland pet, but we stuffed up, she became sentient at some point, and now she's part of the system.

 

Not sure if this was the sort of thing that's supposed to go in this thread, but here it is anyway.

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From that graph which blew me away the most with the results with the flat line (no distraction from the tasks at all), it appears there is no gradient of results with this supertasker group. One either had it or just didnt. So from that that graph result it appears to be something which probably can't be slowly improved till you have it. You have this ability or you just dont.

 

That was just about "Supertaskers" and not the entire umbrella term'd concept of parallel processing, though it is an interesting aspect of what we're studying here and may point towards the conclusion I've mostly already come to, that people who experience parallel processing in any capacity were predisposed to having those experiences. Still, I do think even if it's just multitasking and not true parallel processing, that this is something we can practice and get better at over time

Hi! I'm Lumi, host of Reisen, Tewi, Flandre and Lucilyn.

Everyone deserves to love and be loved. It's human nature.

My tulpas and I have a Q&A thread, which was the first (and largest) of its kind. Feel free to ask us about tulpamancy stuff there.

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That was just about "Supertaskers" and not the entire umbrella term'd concept of parallel processing, though it is an interesting aspect of what we're studying here and may point towards the conclusion I've mostly already come to, that people who experience parallel processing in any capacity were predisposed to having those experiences. Still, I do think even if it's just multitasking and not true parallel processing, that this is something we can practice and get better at over time

 

People can get better at multi tasking with practice. I notice that among my careworkers.  When I get an older woman here who has had a family, they are more able to do multiple things here at once in my home, they work more efficiently due to this whereas if I get a young person here who still lives home urgh.. some of them are not good workers at all as single tasks take all their attention and they dont tend to multi-task much.  I think that is normal  (a baby learning to walk probably wont try to talk at the same time as it takes it's first steps, you can see all it's focus just going into the first steps)..so yeah there is a slight ability to learn that. 

 

I'm kind of seeking a different level of things with the parallel processing, an ability to do so where one isn't like just doing any of the tasks on like rote due to practice (like the ones they were looking to find in that study).  A true ability to parallel process without loosing focus on tasks or having to switch focus.  If one can do this it should be able to be done across all aspects of ones life.

 

Back when it wasn't illegal in Australia to drive while on mobile phone.. one thing from that, those who had bad focus on driving while they were on the phone.. they didn't seem to improve with practice. Those who have poor focus on driving if I talk to them (intense conversation) while they are driving.. haven't changed.. they still have poor focus if I talk to them at that time and likely to go and hit a curb if I speak to them too much at such a time. My friend who takes me places at times is like this and I have to be careful on just how much I talk to him while he's driving, he's in his 70s now.. so driving practice has not helped. His kids are all grown up so he did have much practice over the years of driving when others were talking. I think I'm quite correct in saying he has not the ability to parallel process. I personally used to get distracted and have less attention on road if engaged in an intense conversation in car while driving and sure I'd still be that way if I was still driving. (I say intense conversation while driving as to just have a non intense conversation in cars while driving doesn't take much attention and the concentration drop off is harder to notice and may not be noticeable at all).

 

We must have some at this site who are in that 2.5% of people who naturally can....

 

I think the community should use the same kind of definition of what parallel processing is as the actual Scientific community does and use them as a guide and not go and start getting very broad with it being used as an umbrella term for everything otherwise we will have people saying.. "look i saw my tulpa running at the same time he was yelling, he was parallel processing".. how can we be having serious discussions here about it if people start calling everything this. We will never get the scientific community to take all this stuff with tulpas seriously if we start watering down meanings of words.

Jesse (human male) DOB 16th April 2013 

Working on imposition

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So pretty much since I learned about tulpamancy, I've been reading and asking around about parallel processing related abilities. Here's a list of things I've found many systems are able to do (according to self-report, that's all we ever have really). I consider parallel processing to be involved in any tasks that requires attention/awareness in two or more headmates at seemingly the same time. 

 

Split POV in wonderland. Basically two or more headmates can see from their own perspective in a visualized environment. I've found around 10 systems who have learned to do this.

 

Separate sensory filtering. We all know the body takes in sensory information from the physical environment, which is perceived by the fronter. It's typical for non-fronters to be able to tap into the body's senses are share them. In some reports/models, this sense sharing doesn't require parallel processing, as the non-fronter is not perceiving anything differently than the fronter. However I continually hear reports of non-fronters being able to choose which sense to perceive while lacking perception of other senses. For example, a tulpa who can tap into vision and sound, but at the same time not sense pain, smell, taste. Or can be in a state where the only thing they perceive is the fronter's mindvoice and no bodily sense. To me that very much implies a separate stream of experience/awareness which is separate from the fronter--one is feeling pain, one is not feeling pain, two states. I'd like to dig into this subject a little more as it's very difficult to describe and understand what others are experiencing.

 

Dormancy experiences. I hear about dormancy being experienced like falling asleep or losing awareness and coming back later. When the dormant headmate comes back, they quickly catch up via memories from the front (or not if there's memory loss/amnesia). This is... less parallel processing and more separate awareness for each headmate, but I think it's relevant. I'd say the non-parallel processing version of dormancy is where the dormant headmate stops existing in the sense the the brain does not generate thoughts for them so they seem absent to the fronter, awareness only belonging to the fronter. As opposed to two points of awareness with one stopping while the other continues. 

 

Switching into Wonderland. Yeah, the big one. While many reports of switching into wonderland, or tulpas being active in wonderland while the fronter is busy can be explained as memory confabulation (memories constructed after the fact, as opposed to the wonderland activities being experienced in real time), I have found enough level-headed and consistent reports that I think it's possible. I'm not sure what makes it possible, but the sometimes foggy memories of the non-fronter who was in wonderland can be explained by the brain not recording memories well from non-fronting perspectives. Or similar to how it can be difficult to remember a dream. I'd really like to know more details on this one. 

 

Improvements in activity and parallel awareness from practice. Systems who practice PP exercises like having one headmate count while another does a different task, see improvements in things like thinking at the same time, staying active without attention, and possibly other PP related tasks/abilities. Talking/thinking at the same time and self-forcing are more examples of tasks that I think require some parallel processing. 

 

On my end, we don't seem to have any parallel processing abilities at this time, sadly.

Host: YukariTelepath

Tulpas: Aya, Ruki

 

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Split POV in wonderland. Basically two or more headmates can see from their own perspective in a visualized environment. I've found around 10 systems who have learned to do this.

 

But are they really?  unless the host is able to see what both tulpas are seeing at exactly the same time, how does one really know this is occurring?  Were these hosts able to perceive themselves both points of tulpa perspective at same time?

 

It's like when we sleep.. some tulpas say they are doing things when we are asleep while others say things go dormant, we truly do not know what is going on with this.. maybe the tulpas just think they are doing things while we are asleep due to not liking the idea of their consciousness like switching off when we are.

 

"Systems who practice PP exercises like having one headmate count while another does a different task, see improvements in things like thinking at the same time,"

 

That's normal, you can walk and talk at the same time due to practice (the walking like starts to be done without any hard thinking, like acting on rote.. things like counting also can be done on like rote, one can train oneself in doing it without any real thought), people do get better at things but the question is did that person have to pull some focus off of one task to put it to the other to do this .. or were they truly able to use the same processing power with both things (parallel processing where as switching some focus is not needed).

 

Can the person do two completely random things they haven't practiced and really need to think about, focus on, at the same time (not functioning on rote)

Jesse (human male) DOB 16th April 2013 

Working on imposition

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