In 1976, the polymathic Princeton psychologist Julian Jaynes published The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. It is one of those rare books which is mostly wrong but is filled with so many penetrating and provocative insights that it still deserves to be read. It’s a big idea book that aroused [...]
Tags:auditory hallucination·bicameral mind·consciousness·introspection·Julian Jaynes·lateralization of function·left-right brain·racism·split brain
Some weeks ago Farhad Manjoo penned a techno-robotic piece arguing that independent bookstores are superfluous and should just die. It was one of the coldest things I’ve read in years but it wasn’t surprising. Manjoo’s pleasures in life seem to be efficiency, pricing, and technology. His idea of literary fun is to preview books on [...]
Tags:Amazon·Error and Eccentricity·Farhad Manjoo·independent bookstores·Jerry Coyne·Joseph Jastrow·Ludwig Wittgenstein·William James·Wish and Wisdom
There can be little doubt that fluctuations in consciousness are a major contributing factor to beliefs in the supernatural. Although there are other aspects of mind that are also contributing factors (such as agency detection, theory of mind, causal sequencing, and pattern imposition), one thing that surely would have mystified or perplexed early modern humans [...]
Tags:Aborigines·altered states of consciousness·ASC·Bushmen·dreams·Dreamtime·hallucinations·Iroquois·Jesuit Relations·Plains Indians·psychotropics·San·trance·trance dance·visions
When fully modern humans left Africa, their journey is often described as the “colonization” or “peopling” of the world. Characterizing things this way can give rise to the mistaken impression that the journey out of Africa was unprecedented and unique. This of course ignores the fact that human ancestors pulsed out of Africa multiple times [...]
Tags:Aborigines·adaptive radiation·colonization·complex cognition·Iain Davidson·Jane Balme·language·migration·out of Africa·peopling of Australia·peopling of world·southern arc route·symbolism
While working on the Göbekli Tepe Series, a reader suggested some possible intersections with the work of Julian Jaynes. At her suggestion I’m reading The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976) and some of Jaynes’ other writings, including his 1970 essay on “The Problem of Animate Motion in the Seventeenth [...]
Tags:agency attribution·agency detection·animation·animism·Edward Tylor·Fabricus ab Aquapendente·folk physics·HADD·Julian Jaynes·motion·movement
Thanks to the hard work and serendipity of Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, who was recently profiled in the New York Times, we know that our left brain homunculus is a storyteller. Our homunculi confabulate like crazy. Nevermind that the person in our head lacks basic information or essential plot elements: s/he will fashion a narrative or [...]
Tags:agency·confabulation·credulity·illusory intentions·intentionality·manipulation·Margaret Lynn·Michael Gazzaniga·mind control·storytelling·suggestion
Americans are notoriously religious, which means that most believe in supernatural agents and forces. While most of these supernaturals are of the Christian variety, there seems to be a spillover effect. Belief in Christian supernaturals apparently doesn’t preclude belief in less orthodox kinds of supernaturals:
Source:LiveScience
This isn’t surprising. Socially constructed and doctrinal lines separate “religion” [...]
Tags:deities·demons·ghosts·gods·magic·paranormal·spirits·supernatural
The person who lives inside your head may seem rational and honest, but who is fooling who? If you are fortunate there is only one voice and if you are sober the voice should be sensible. Or so we would like to think. Two recent studies suggest otherwise. As it turns out, our homunculi are [...]
Tags:Christoph Korn·cognitive dissonance·error coding·homunculus·information bias·lying·Nietzsche·Raymond Dolan·Robert Trivers·self deception·self-deceit·Tali Sharot·truth claims·unrealistic optimism·untruth as condition of life·William von Hippel
There was a time when Paleolithic cave paintings were construed primarily through the lens of “art,” an interpretive stance which assumes that at least some Paleolithic peoples were “artists” who painted for pleasure. Because this lens is so subjective (and creative), all manner of interpretations were offered. Whether prosaic or fanciful, this approach raised troubling [...]
Tags:altered states of consciousness·art history·ASC·cave art·cave paintings·dark zone art·David Lewis-Williams·doodles·entoptics·flutings·form constants·France·functionalism·hallucination·Jessica Cooney·Kevin Sharpe·Leslie Van Gelder·Paleolithic·petroglyphs·play·ritual·Rouffignac·shamans·symbolism
Making and keeping promises is a hallmark of human behavior that many consider to be a cornerstone of “morality.” As such, it is often linked to religion. The linkage is expressly acknowledged by religious groups such as Promise Keepers.
Until recently, I hadn’t given much thought to promises per se or their critical importance to the [...]
Tags:conscience·consciousness·Friedrich Nietzsche·Genealogy of Morals·Making Sense of Nietzsche·memory·memory activation·morality·morals·Promise Keepers·promises·Richard Schacht
