All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.
Pages
▼
Sunday, July 21, 2019
The Origin of Consciousness In The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Consciousness is a product of evolution? A reaction to stimuli? An adaptation?
Not all humans are conscious? Some humans aren't capable of inner reflection? But instead, they merely react to outside forces, and/or hallucinations ... perhaps hallucinations that took place in caves 1500 years ago?
Read that book in college in the early 80s. At the time Sociobiology by E O Wilson was all the rage. People did not much read Jaynes, probably because the text was dense.
Both theories are determinist in nature, at least Jaynes identified a probable cause in bicameral meta-cognition. But one would have to believe that prehistoric humans were uniformly schizophrenic which doesn't strike me as a evolutionary advantage.
One could attribute the "schizophrenia" state to a dream state. Irrational information being fed into the rational brain. Inspired and metaphorical. I am not sure that it would necessarily be much more of a hindrance than dreams themselves.
Read that book in college in the early 80s. At the time Sociobiology by E O Wilson was all the rage. People did not much read Jaynes, probably because the text was dense.
ReplyDeleteBoth theories are determinist in nature, at least Jaynes identified a probable cause in bicameral meta-cognition. But one would have to believe that prehistoric humans were uniformly schizophrenic which doesn't strike me as a evolutionary advantage.
Good point.
ReplyDeleteI am not going to argue it one way or the other.
I think Jaynes idea is interesting.
One could attribute the "schizophrenia" state to a dream state. Irrational information being fed into the rational brain. Inspired and metaphorical. I am not sure that it would necessarily be much more of a hindrance than dreams themselves.
Some people's dreams are more vivid than others.