Yoo-hoo, is anybody home?

Last week, a post on Neil deGrasse Tyson's Facebook fan page distracted a small group of us who had paused to read the startling revelation that 75% of people had "no inner voice". If this is really Tyson, the popular US author and astrophysicist, mind you.

- Marianne Thamm

"That's a terribly high number," the little voice in my head piped up.

"I agree," the other little voice responded.

Many who began commenting on the post must have had the same inner duologue or monologue. They agreed this certainly would be a startlingly high number of people who were unable to think to themselves, ruminate or self-reflect.

The post read: "I just assumed everyone had it, you know that little narrator in your head who talks you through your decisions, who questions your actions, who reflects on your failures and asks, 'Why did I do that?' But here's the data: over 75% of people report little to no inner dialogue at all.

"Nothing. No voice. No back-and-forth. No internal monologue steering the ship. Like wtf..." the post trailed off before perking up to add: "What if we're looking at a fundamental divide in human consciousness... almost like a split between narrative beings and reactive shells?"

These are people apparently who "just follow the script handed to them by instinct and the media".

"You better check this out," the voice in my head chipped in.

Silence not absence?

Turns out the Tyson post was somewhat off target. Way off target, in fact. The average is estimated to be only between 5% and 10%.