AMMDI is an open-notebook hypertext writing experiment, authored by Mike Travers aka mtraven. It's a work in progress and some parts are more polished than others. Comments welcome! More.
Is rubberducking a kind of imago? Or an imago seed or something. It is similar in that while it is not the same as having the actual person on hand, it's so often the best we can do...
There's some confusion about the term – are tulpas something only highly trained magicians can create for themselves, or something ordinary people do as part of practical everyday cognition (eg, when you are having imaginary arguments in your head with an acquaintance – is that a tulpa? It is, after all, an animated representation). Is rubberducking a form of tulpamancy?
The practice (used in tech and I would assume elsewhere) of having a rubber duck or similar figure on your desk and using it as a conversational partner, a stand-in for a real person, an imaginary co-worker.
This works because very often explaining a problem clarifies it so that the solution becomes obvious, and it doesn't really matter who you are explaining it to.
The cost-effectiveness of this is obvious. Rubber ducks are cheaper than people, and more accessible. Far better to talk it out with the duck than interrupt someone else's flow.