Stuff You Should Know
Selects: Thrill to the Stunning Bicameral Mind Hypothesis
May 2, 202650 min · 9,806 words
Show notes
Psychologist Julian Jaynes came up with a stunning hypothesis in 1976, that human consciousness only developed in the last 3000 years. And he seemed to have proof in ancient texts. Scholars have been picking it apart ever since and in this classic episode we join the club.
Highlighted moments
he took what they were saying when they said things like, you know, the gods told us to do this, that they thought that the gods told them to do this, not that they were using metaphor.
“the power that we gave to the God's commands were kind of transferred to the written word. And yeah, that seems to have been like the death knell for the bicameral mind”
“they started forming religions they started you know beseeching the gods to give them a sign this is when oracles started to become a thing prophets started to become a thing superstitions like omens grew”
Transcript
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