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From: rbg@cbosgd.UUCP (Richard Goldschmidt)
Newsgroups: net.bio
Subject: Re: Left and Right Brain (Bicameral Mind)
Message-ID: <1078@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Apr-85 07:42:05 EST
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.1078
Posted: Wed Apr 24 07:42:05 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Apr-85 03:19:10 EST
References: <14006@watmath.UUCP> <499@petsd.UUCP>
Organization: Columbus Bell Labs, Silver Lining
Lines: 31

In article <499@petsd.UUCP>, cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) writes:
> I read Jaynes's book and found it interesting, but *very*
> unconvincing.  He seems to be of two minds (ooops) about the
> nature of the "breakdown" - did the "right" brain get pushed
> aside altogether, or does it now co-ordinate its functions
> with the "left" brain so well that normally the difference is
> imperceptible?  And he is quite incoherent about the causes of
> the change.  
> 
> It was a decent science-fiction idea, and somebody used it
> recently in _Analog_.
> UUCP:       ..!(cornell | ariel | ukc | houxz)!vax135!petsd!cjh

As someone who has devoted roughly 10 years to brain research (including 
a Ph.D. doing neuroanatomy), most of the right-left brain stuff to pass 
through this group has a low factual content, about on a par with that 
provided by Jaynes.  I also found his arguments about the brain unconvincing 
and there were some clear factual errors on the neuroscience side.  But to 
write off this book as science fiction is a mistake.  It makes an very 
valuable contribution to understanding the origin of consciousness as an
epiphenomenon of language evolution.  The definition of consciousness,
and historical and linguistic analysis related to that definition were
insightful.  Language remains one of the most mysterious cornerstones of
human evolution, and if you can ignore some of the places where Jaynes
clearly exceeds the realm of his expertise, it is a profound book.

Rich Goldschmidt     {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax,allegra,seismo} !cbosgd!rbg
		     ARPA:  cbosgd!rbg@seismo or cbosgd!rbg@ucbvax
-- 
Rich Goldschmidt     {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax,allegra,ulysses} !cbosgd!rbg
		     ARPA:  cbosgd!rbg@ucbvax