>>16827073
> I've literally noticed some people in these discussions admit they did think the "mind's eye" was like a projector on the back of one's eyelids.
That's literally how some people experience it. I agree with you in the painter example but you're throwing out the baby with the bathwater here by insisting there are no subjective differences in how people experience visual imagination. There are numerous discussions online where the differences are eked out, just some examples
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19618927
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/baTWMegR42PAsH9qJ/generalizing-from-one-example
the galton survey
some blogpost from a google employee that I can't find currently

A very similar discourse exists around whether people actually hear their internal monologue as a voice btw.