Marcel Kuijsten interviewed by The Ungoogleable Michaelangelo for the “Self Portraits as Other People” podcast.
From the description:
There are few words in circulation with as many disparate and ill-defined interpretations as “consciousness” and no one, as far as I’m concerned, has narrowed down a more concise definition than Julian Jaynes in his book The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
Marcel Kuijsten founded the Julian Jaynes Society and has, along w a range of experts in various disciplines, continued to distribute, distill, explain, and expand upon Jaynes’ work through a number of publications that clarify the theory, dispel misconceptions, and present a growing body of evidence to support it. His latest book is titled Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind.
All of this complex material is meticulously researched and articulated, and in this episode Marcel and I do our best to navigate and outline the theory’s various facets and examine its implications.
During the intro I relay the story of my time “playing dead for a living” on the set of Westworld, a show about a theme park of AI-cowboys-gone-wild, which heavily leans on Jaynes’ theory to fulfill its narrative arc.
Published October 2022.