4 ms·
This is so bizarre. It's as though our conscious selves share an existence with an independently operating human animal. The one that flinches.
by wwwtyro 14y ago
This is so bizarre. It's as though our conscious selves share an existence with an independently operating human animal. The one that flinches.
- chao- 14y agoWould it be more accurate to say that the former is built on top of the latter? As opposed to an equal share, that is.
- Someone 14y agoPhilosophical question: what makes you think that entity is human? I think I would have left out 'human', because I am not aware of similar cases where people speak coherently without being conscious of doing it.
- beagle3 14y agoIf you want to get your mind blown about the "other" one, read "The emergence of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind" by Julian Jaynes. It argues, e.g. that schizophrenia is a disease in which communication with that other self becomes an internal (voiced) dialogue that sounds.
- zenon 14y agoJaynes' ideas occasionally surface in science fiction. Two examples are Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams. The last one is an underappreciated gem IMHO.
- bcbrown 14y agoAn interesting collection of essays and short stories that investigate concepts related to your observation is http://www.amazon.com/The-Minds-Fantasies-Reflections-Self/dp/0465030912 http://www.amazon.com/The-Minds-Fantasies-Reflections-Self/d..., which I'm almost finished with. It has a lot of thought-provoking arguments. Edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennet.
- Sharlin 14y agoThis is rather an accurate way to put it. Even more unsettlingly, the conscious "self" can be seen as a manager of sorts that has a delusion of being the entity that pulls the strings, even though its "subordinates" usually keep the wheels turning quite adeptly all by themselves. The manager usually just receives executive reports after the underlings have done the actual decisions.