Fuuuuuckk I was not expecting to see the Bicameral Mind bullshit here.
Where did the voices of the gods go?
Submitted 3 weeks ago by 
Grumpus_Maximus@thelemmy.club to historymemes@piefed.social
https://thelemmy.club/pictrs/image/0a6ad7ba-4e30-4df8-96d3-134ea32db940.jpeg
Comments
JayDee@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’m in this meme and I don’t like it
So I’m in the middle of reading OoCatBotBM and 100% this is absolutely top tier crackpot tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy. Buuuuuut it’s so compelling and completely my new head cannon. It explains so much, this is my new hypothesis until a better one comes along
5wim@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
valar@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Am I supposed to know what that acronym means?
Zorcron@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I had to look it up too, but it’s the book that suggested the “bicameral mind” hypothesis. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Taleya@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
It explains a lot when you account for everyone getting whacked on lead, mercury, volcano fumes, fava beans, botulism, ergot and resin
flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Guy makes an interesting hypothesis but without much weight behind it
Westworld uses it as a piece of fictional worldbuilding
Annoying edgelords and “let me explain” guys latch onto it unironically
FuyuhikoDate@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Who’s that guy?
Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
That’s Julian Jaynes
He wrote a book about the concept of bicameral mentality, here is the entry part of the linked wikipedia article:
Bicameral mentality is a psychological hypothesis proposed by American psychologist Julian Jaynes. It suggests that early modern humans experienced thoughts and emotions not as originating within themselves but as commands from external “gods”. According to the theory, the human mind once functioned with a division in which one part generated verbal instructions while a second part obeyed, forming a “bicameral mind”. The eventual collapse of this mental structure is proposed to have led to the development of self-reflective consciousness in humans.
The term was coined by Jaynes, who presented the idea in his 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind,[1] wherein he makes the case that a bicameral mentality was the “normal and ubiquitous state” of the human mind as recently as 3,000 years ago, at the end of the Bronze Age.
So he argued that peoples mind and brains were different then today and that explains why we have no myths anymore.
baltakatei@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago as recently as 3,000 years ago, at the end of the Bronze Age
Oops, guys, I’m full-blooded Navajo and apparently I should have a bicameral mind since my ancestors crossed the Bering Strait land bridge 20,000 years ago into the Americas, becoming a generically isolated population around around 12,000 years ago. Unfortunately, I am an atheist, have a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University, and do not hear voices of deities instructing me what to do. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Taleya@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
You just have to look at how people react to climate change, or covid, or basic immunology to understand how lack of knowledge or understanding creates mythological structures of pure horseshit
spacehulk@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago Thank you for explaining the theory. ‘We don’t have myths anymore’ made me laugh, though.
m0darn@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
The Odyssey doesn’t depict the bronze age accurately so it’s not surprising that the Odyssey doesn’t depict the bronze age accurately.