3,000 Years Ago, Everyone Heard Voices | Dr. Julian Jaynes

Three thousand years ago, Julian Jaynes argued, people did not think the way we do. They heard their decisions as voices, and obeyed them. Next: Episode 2 →    • Achilles and Early Schizophrenia | Dr. Jul...   In 1976 the Princeton psychologist Julian Jaynes published The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, one of the most debated books of the century. This first episode lays the groundwork: what consciousness is not, the metaphors we use for the mind (today we'd say a computer), the flashlight that cannot see the dark, and the startling possibility that people once spoke, fought and built cities with no inner world at all. Episode 1 of 6 on Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976). Chapters 0:00 Three thousand years ago 0:33 The world inside you 1:07 Julian Jaynes and his book 1:43 The blind spot test 2:14 A flashlight in a dark room 2:34 Memory isn't a recording 3:05 Skill without consciousness 3:28 Learning without consciousness 4:13 Judgment: the weight test 4:43 How great discoveries arrive 5:18 Where is consciousness? 5:45 Language and metaphor 6:41 The mind-space 7:10 Could people once have had no inner world? 7:40 A smaller mind than it feels Get the book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618057072?... Or listen to the audiobook on Audible (free trial): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VMX2NC2?... (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.) Image credits (CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons): "A chemical laboratory with four chemists" (engraving), Wellcome Collection; René Descartes, the eye, from La Dioptrique, Wellcome Collection. All other artworks are in the public domain. Epitomica takes works of genius from the past and presents them, undoctored, for modern audiences: every idea explained in its author's own terms. Scripted, designed and directed by the Epitomica Team on Epitomica's own animation engine. This is a summary and commentary: the ideas are Jaynes's, the words and pictures are ours. Read the book. Credits: script and research by the SCRIBE team (Story, Content, Research, Interpretation & Book Editing). Illustration, animation and editing by the FORGE team (Film Orchestration, Rendering & Generation Engine). Original score by the CADENCE team (Composition, Arrangement, Dynamics, Ensemble, Notation, Cues & Engineering). Production, publishing and analytics by the ATLAS team (Audience, Traffic, Launch & Analytics Steward). Narrated by George. #Consciousness #JulianJaynes #BicameralMind