Westworld and the Bicameral Mind
Last week I binged on the beautiful and haunting Westworld tv series, which exceeded expectations. My enjoyment was enhanced by having read Julian Jaynes' magnum opus upon which the nascent psychology of the synthetic 'hosts' was modelled: "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind". It's a hypothesis about an intermediate evolutionary stage between non-conscious instinctive action and 'modern' consciousness. The idea itself seems to have merit, though as mentioned by Anthony Hopkins' character it is "now discredited" by the psychology community. I suspect this is because Jaynes related his ideas to brain lateralisation and there was eventually a general and perhaps overzealous backlash against brain lateralisation theories. However, Jaynes never claimed that his "bicameral mind" *required* hemispheric lateralisation, it just appeared to be a convenient mapping.
Coming from a hard science background, all these debates about psychology, and especially paleopsychology, look pretty squishy anyway. So fill yer boots. If nothing else it is a beautifully written book, one that Richard Dawkins described as "Either a work of consummate genius, or complete rubbish from start to finish", and he added, "I'm hedging my bets."
http://www.julianjaynes.org/bicameralmind.php
Coming from a hard science background, all these debates about psychology, and especially paleopsychology, look pretty squishy anyway. So fill yer boots. If nothing else it is a beautifully written book, one that Richard Dawkins described as "Either a work of consummate genius, or complete rubbish from start to finish", and he added, "I'm hedging my bets."
http://www.julianjaynes.org/bicameralmind.php