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I doubt you're going to get any answers here. I've seen GEB mentioned already and if you're a reader I highly recommend Julian Jaynes' Origin of Consciousness i
by mpk 18y ago
I doubt you're going to get any answers here. I've seen GEB mentioned already and if you're a reader I highly recommend Julian Jaynes' Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Fascinating theory, but the consensus seems to be that it's probably not correct. I picked it up after encountering references to it in a diverse set of sources.
- yan 18y agoWhile that book is fascinating and totally came out of left field when it was published, I don't think I would recommend it as an introduction to consciousness. The idea that people very similar to modern humans weren't self-aware as recent as the pharaohs is fascinating though!
- yters 18y agoThat is very interesting. Know of any good links about the non self-aware people?
- yan 18y agoIt was basically introduced in the book mentioned in the above post. You can read more about bicameralism here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology) (I'm pretty sure it's been disproved since, but he put forward a very interesting theory) edit: err use the entire link, the parens didn't get included.
- russell 18y agoI thought it was amazing when it came out. Now I think it's a crock of shit. I think mammals are conscious and self aware enough to distinguish between themselves and their environment. I doubt that even thoughts are unique to humans. I would be interesting to find out if chimps can think chimp sounds without verbalizing them.