"If we are now re-entering an age of bicamerality, then it is more important and powerful than ever to remain agentic, to retain our individual sense of self. To be agentic is to be godlike. Per Jaynes: "It is the self that is responsible and can debate within itself, can order and direct, and...the creation of such a self is the product of culture. In a sense, we have become our own gods."" - I liked how you touched upon the retaining our individual sense of self; it's very important to retain & hone your sense of self. Once you do, you really see the whole range of what's possible in today's world, including alternate futures than where your current path may lead. :)
Interesting food for thought. But to posit that humans were not conscious until 3,000 years ago is a wild over generalization. I am sure some humans were operating from a mostly right brain operating system, but to say that all ancient civilizations were built exclusively from right brain or supernatural directives is pretty far fetched and I don't feel is credible at all. It often appears that the main purpose of the left brain linear mind is to implement the creative imaginings of the right brain. But it is not a closed loop. The left brain linear mind also takes in information constantly and feeds it back to the right brain and vice versa. They are designed to work togther, just like the right and left sides of the body. It is true that ancient humans were less individiated than we are now, but I believe that has more to do with hard wired survival genetics than 'consciousness' or lack thereof. Ie if we all had to live in close quarters inside bomb shelters today we would become less individiated pretty quickly because strong individual egos and opinions would make bomb shelter living intolerable and make us all less likely to survive the experience.
"It distracts us from being able to see the future for what it really is – a blank page – instead of as an inevitable disaster, to figure out what we’d actually want to build." 1990 produced one of the greatest send-offs for my youth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDAZyBU5G8 Back to the Future III (spoiler alert) : "Your future hasn't been written yet." Seems lost on newer generations, but only because it hasn't been communicated to them yet.
I just learned about the philosopher Byung-Chul Han on this podcast and he hits some very similar themes, tho in a little different way. Or different direction anyway
Really really good description of a meditative state, which may or may not be triggered by hypnosis. It is perfectly possible to reach calm, clean and clear mind without losing any bit of your consciousness. Without letting your brain wander into its default mode. Or maybe trace how the brain gets there. I believe that observation technique is called "mindfulness meditation".
Bicameral model is funny analogy to explain the function of "default mode network", but for the explanation of doomscrolling phenomenon I would say it is far fetched. I would start falling into the rabbit hole from the strange way game designers talk about hypercasual games as "games with short stimulation cycle". Stimulation of what? I guess it is stimulation of dopamine, where cycle of setting the target and getting the target is extra short. And with doomscrolling the target is "surprize me".
I don't think people in doomscrolling mode are absorbing information. It is not the hypnosis or mindfullnes. I don't think people in the doomscrolling mode are able to learn anything at all, because they are "dopamine intoxicated". The only thing they can remember something if the continuous dopamine "stimulation" is interrupted by oxytocin spike when people want to share something they found amusing.
I don't say I validated that theory. You surely dig the facts and write better than me. :D
Your points made me think about my own reactions to 'doom scrolling'. Maybe I am wierd this way but I am actually able to absorb a huge amount of information online through you tube shorts etc. It can be overwhelming and it takes a long time to digest and process, but I would say I am very conscious when I am doom scrolling or internet browsing etc. Maybe I am hypnotized and don't know it or maybe I am getting dopamine spikes etc. Or maybe since I have always taken in far too much information on multiple levels my whole life since long before the internet, I am just able to remain somewhat conscious while I am doing this. Or maybe we are all just different and we cannot over generalize about shared experience.
Fascinated by the bicameral mind concept, but got a lost a little bit. Does "zoned out" always mean hypnosis? This seems implied, and I find it hard to agree with. From what I can tell, animals other than humans are mostly in that state where consciousness plays little to no role in behaviors or reactions - does it mean animals are always self-hypnotized?
Could it be that hypnosis is best used to describe only purposeful state (of consciousness) changes? E.g. only when we (or someone else) ask our consciousness to go away? If this happens on its own - then perhaps it's not hypnosis? Just curious.
"If we are now re-entering an age of bicamerality, then it is more important and powerful than ever to remain agentic, to retain our individual sense of self. To be agentic is to be godlike. Per Jaynes: "It is the self that is responsible and can debate within itself, can order and direct, and...the creation of such a self is the product of culture. In a sense, we have become our own gods."" - I liked how you touched upon the retaining our individual sense of self; it's very important to retain & hone your sense of self. Once you do, you really see the whole range of what's possible in today's world, including alternate futures than where your current path may lead. :)
Great writing as always Nadia
Interesting food for thought. But to posit that humans were not conscious until 3,000 years ago is a wild over generalization. I am sure some humans were operating from a mostly right brain operating system, but to say that all ancient civilizations were built exclusively from right brain or supernatural directives is pretty far fetched and I don't feel is credible at all. It often appears that the main purpose of the left brain linear mind is to implement the creative imaginings of the right brain. But it is not a closed loop. The left brain linear mind also takes in information constantly and feeds it back to the right brain and vice versa. They are designed to work togther, just like the right and left sides of the body. It is true that ancient humans were less individiated than we are now, but I believe that has more to do with hard wired survival genetics than 'consciousness' or lack thereof. Ie if we all had to live in close quarters inside bomb shelters today we would become less individiated pretty quickly because strong individual egos and opinions would make bomb shelter living intolerable and make us all less likely to survive the experience.
How did the hypnobirthing go? Anxious to learn if that worked!
"It distracts us from being able to see the future for what it really is – a blank page – instead of as an inevitable disaster, to figure out what we’d actually want to build." 1990 produced one of the greatest send-offs for my youth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDAZyBU5G8 Back to the Future III (spoiler alert) : "Your future hasn't been written yet." Seems lost on newer generations, but only because it hasn't been communicated to them yet.
You’re so great
I just learned about the philosopher Byung-Chul Han on this podcast and he hits some very similar themes, tho in a little different way. Or different direction anyway
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/philosophize-this/id659155419?i=1000627026347
Really really good description of a meditative state, which may or may not be triggered by hypnosis. It is perfectly possible to reach calm, clean and clear mind without losing any bit of your consciousness. Without letting your brain wander into its default mode. Or maybe trace how the brain gets there. I believe that observation technique is called "mindfulness meditation".
Bicameral model is funny analogy to explain the function of "default mode network", but for the explanation of doomscrolling phenomenon I would say it is far fetched. I would start falling into the rabbit hole from the strange way game designers talk about hypercasual games as "games with short stimulation cycle". Stimulation of what? I guess it is stimulation of dopamine, where cycle of setting the target and getting the target is extra short. And with doomscrolling the target is "surprize me".
I don't think people in doomscrolling mode are absorbing information. It is not the hypnosis or mindfullnes. I don't think people in the doomscrolling mode are able to learn anything at all, because they are "dopamine intoxicated". The only thing they can remember something if the continuous dopamine "stimulation" is interrupted by oxytocin spike when people want to share something they found amusing.
I don't say I validated that theory. You surely dig the facts and write better than me. :D
Your points made me think about my own reactions to 'doom scrolling'. Maybe I am wierd this way but I am actually able to absorb a huge amount of information online through you tube shorts etc. It can be overwhelming and it takes a long time to digest and process, but I would say I am very conscious when I am doom scrolling or internet browsing etc. Maybe I am hypnotized and don't know it or maybe I am getting dopamine spikes etc. Or maybe since I have always taken in far too much information on multiple levels my whole life since long before the internet, I am just able to remain somewhat conscious while I am doing this. Or maybe we are all just different and we cannot over generalize about shared experience.
Fascinated by the bicameral mind concept, but got a lost a little bit. Does "zoned out" always mean hypnosis? This seems implied, and I find it hard to agree with. From what I can tell, animals other than humans are mostly in that state where consciousness plays little to no role in behaviors or reactions - does it mean animals are always self-hypnotized?
Could it be that hypnosis is best used to describe only purposeful state (of consciousness) changes? E.g. only when we (or someone else) ask our consciousness to go away? If this happens on its own - then perhaps it's not hypnosis? Just curious.