I have been reading the book "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jaynes.
Jaynes developes a strange yet fascinating outsider theory of early human history. He proposes that consciousness as we know it is a historically recent invention - before 1000 BC humans were not conscious. Instead, they had what he calls a bicameral mind: The two halves of the brain operated independently, with the left part containing the personality, which was largely passive and robotic, and the right part containing a planning and decision-making entity, that sent commands to the left part via auditory hallucinations and was perceived as a personal god.
While Jaynes's theory is unusual and not followed by the mainstream of anthropologists, there is something compelling about it IMO.
What I have also been thinking about: Maybe OPL has some sort of bicameral mind?! Maybe he's stuck in a Jaynesian bronze age?
Check the evidence:
* He once said that Sonichu and Rosechu talk to him and give him dating advice every night. He is convinced that they exist in some way.
* He does the same shit (nagging about Megan/Trolls, using silly attraction methods etc.) over and over again, like he was commanded to do it by the inner voices of his hedgehogs.
* He learns at a glacial pace, the way someone who lacks the narrative inner space of consciousness might learn.
* He is largely unable to understand metaphors (several examples in the father call). According to Jaynes, metaphorical thinking is an important foundation of consciousness, bicameral humans could not do it.
* He can't tell fiction from reality. Being able to do this would be a function of modern consciousness.
* He seems to be "flying autopilot" most of the time, not thinking about anything and just doing mechanically what he's used to do.
* The auditory hallucinations of bicameral humans were probably triggered by stress - like in modern schizophrenics, but far more easily: When a situation arose that could not be handled by "autopilot", the person would hear the voice of a god telling him or her what to do. Remember how Chris conversed with Sonichu when MLW put him in an unexpected situation?
If this were true, we should take Chris to to anthropological conferences. Being able to examine a living bicameral man would be very valuable to scholars of early history (and would indirectly prove that Jaynes was right). :mrgreen:
Jaynes developes a strange yet fascinating outsider theory of early human history. He proposes that consciousness as we know it is a historically recent invention - before 1000 BC humans were not conscious. Instead, they had what he calls a bicameral mind: The two halves of the brain operated independently, with the left part containing the personality, which was largely passive and robotic, and the right part containing a planning and decision-making entity, that sent commands to the left part via auditory hallucinations and was perceived as a personal god.
While Jaynes's theory is unusual and not followed by the mainstream of anthropologists, there is something compelling about it IMO.
What I have also been thinking about: Maybe OPL has some sort of bicameral mind?! Maybe he's stuck in a Jaynesian bronze age?
Check the evidence:
* He once said that Sonichu and Rosechu talk to him and give him dating advice every night. He is convinced that they exist in some way.
* He does the same shit (nagging about Megan/Trolls, using silly attraction methods etc.) over and over again, like he was commanded to do it by the inner voices of his hedgehogs.
* He learns at a glacial pace, the way someone who lacks the narrative inner space of consciousness might learn.
* He is largely unable to understand metaphors (several examples in the father call). According to Jaynes, metaphorical thinking is an important foundation of consciousness, bicameral humans could not do it.
* He can't tell fiction from reality. Being able to do this would be a function of modern consciousness.
* He seems to be "flying autopilot" most of the time, not thinking about anything and just doing mechanically what he's used to do.
* The auditory hallucinations of bicameral humans were probably triggered by stress - like in modern schizophrenics, but far more easily: When a situation arose that could not be handled by "autopilot", the person would hear the voice of a god telling him or her what to do. Remember how Chris conversed with Sonichu when MLW put him in an unexpected situation?
If this were true, we should take Chris to to anthropological conferences. Being able to examine a living bicameral man would be very valuable to scholars of early history (and would indirectly prove that Jaynes was right). :mrgreen:
