Re:Ask HN: Where does consciousness come from?
by mpk on Friday December 19, 2008 @05:08AM
(#403210)
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.
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Re:Ask HN: Where does consciousness come from?
by yan on Friday December 19, 2008 @10:45AM
(#403422)
While 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!
Re:Ask HN: Where does consciousness come from?
by yters on Friday December 19, 2008 @11:17AM
(#403460)
That is very interesting. Know of any good links about the non self-aware people?
Re:Ask HN: Where does consciousness come from?
by yan on Friday December 19, 2008 @12:19PM
(#403539)
It was basically introduced in the book mentioned in the above post. You can read more about bicameralism here: 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.
Re:Ask HN: Where does consciousness come from?
by russell on Friday December 19, 2008 @06:04PM
(#403973)
I 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.