My recollection from undergrad, decades before the term "aphantasia" was coined, is that B.F. Skinner testified to not having a mind's eye, thus declared it not to be a thing for anyone.

From what am seeing of reviews of Nick Chater, also a behaviorist, and author of The Mind is Flat, he might also be an aphant who believes his own lived experience to be reflective of everyone else's.

It sounds like ideas myself held, around the time first heard the anecdote about Skinner. This being the first clue that Skinner's experience, per the anecdote, that my experience, was somehow outside the norm.

Such ego-centric introspection (for evaluating how one's thought processes work, to declare that they are not as rich as others claim thought processes to be, is still introspection) can lead to very limited models of mental phenomena.

Andreesseen might also be an aphant who doesn't know any better.

https://hachyderm.io/@thomasfuchs/116242597841379892

Given how the classic awakening of aphants is "Wait, you mean others really do see pictures in their heads?! That's not just a metaphor? They really see things in their heads!?!?!?" behaviorism can sound quite appealing, as its failure to explain mental phenomena we don't experience doesn't stand out as a weakness.

Eventually, many of us learn that our experience of the world is not dispositive. Not all of us do.

#aphantasia