X-Message-Number: 15928 Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 10:37:22 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Re: Jaynes Book George Smith, #15921, discusses the Jaynes book, *The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" with its amazing hypothesis that consciousness didn't exist among humans until about 3000 years ago. He wants to know if others have read the book and what they think about it. I read the book back in the '80s and found it interesting but unconvincing, in part because, if people prior to 1000 BCE were "unconscious," then some primitive peoples of more recent times should also have this characteristic. Arguably, there are people today who fit this description, that is, being no further advanced than people in general of 3K years ago. (I remember reading, for example, about a tribe of people living in a rain forest who build tree houses some sixty feet off the ground, and lack modern technology.) People like this should be studied to see if they are "unconscious"; I don't think they have been found to be. On the other hand, "unconscious" apparently doesn't mean the same thing as having no awareness, but maybe a dreamlike state would qualify. But this makes the whole question very fuzzy. What is a "dreamlike" state? Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15928