Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!ucsd!nprdc!bickel
From: bickel@nprdc.arpa (Steven Bickel)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Thought/Emotion/Feeling
Message-ID: <1160@arctic.nprdc.arpa>
Date: 12 Dec 88 20:11:58 GMT
References: <569@epicb.UUCP> <1146@arctic.nprdc.arpa> <1152@arctic.nprdc.arpa> <496@uceng.UC.EDU> <1154@arctic.nprdc.arpa> <1867@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU>
Sender: news@nprdc.arpa
Reply-To: bickel@nprdc.arpa (Steven Bickel)
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
Lines: 29

In article <1867@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> geb@cadre.dsl.pittsburgh.edu (Gordon E. Banks) writes:
>In article <1154@arctic.nprdc.arpa> bickel@nprdc.arpa (Steven Bickel) writes:
>>  Good Reading :-)
>>
>>  J. Jaynes, The origin of consciousness and the breakdown of the 
>>  bicameral mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
>>
>
>Now I know where that idea about language and consciousness
>evolving in the last 10000 years came from!  Jaynes' thesis is
>considered quack by every anthropologist I have talked to.
>It is highly interesting, but also highly unlikely.  Not quite
>as bad as Velikovsky, but getting there.  Actually, Jaynes seemed
>to base his theories more on literary evidence from ancient writings
>such as the Iliad.  I didn't find his arguments convincing.

   In the four references I listed there are large disagreements in
   many specific areas.  I do not entirely agree with Jaynes thesis, but, 
   his concept of the "bicameral mind being a product of language" seems 
   reasonable.  Wilbur seems to have a much better grasp of how the 
   pieces fit together, but, I do not agree with his concept of a 
   Superconsciousness as the ultimate developmental growth stage.
   The overall concepts portrayed by all of them collectively fit the 
   evolutionary concept of rapid periods of adaptation/growth followed 
   by plateau periods.  I believe that this "general theory" is widely
   accepted by the anthropological community - It has been widely 
   publicized lately and I am not aware of any criticisms.

   Steve Bickel