Jeremy Johnson
Bio
Essayist and culture writer. Contributing editor at Reality Sandwich, co-founder / editor at METAPSY Journal. Writer at OMNI, Disinfo, and ERIS Mag. Philosophy, culture, futurism.
Stories (2/0)
Luminous Beings Are We
Myths persist in our time. They evolve, take on new lexicons, new symbols—some shiny and chrome. Myths take our reality and spin wonders out of it. One glimpse through the Hubble Space telescope and our universe is filled with cosmic gods. Sea voyages of old become star sojourns, traced through celestial vistas filled with megalithic starships—be they Star Destroyers, or Battlestars. Enter the wise old sage, the Hermit of the tarot deck, as the Yodas and Obi Wans. Stories have traveled with us from the tales we uttered around the primordial fires, to the towering statues of worship in the Hellenistic world, to advent of great works of literature. Still more to the booming, dazzling icons of the movie screen.
By Jeremy Johnson7 years ago in Futurism
The Philosophy of Westworld
Michael Crichton wrote and directed Westworld for the big screen in 1973. That same decade, in 1976, an adjunct professor named Julian Jaynes made the bestseller list with a surprising title: The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. You wouldn’t think that a book with a name like that would become such a popular success. Yet, there it was. In 2016, when Westworld came to the small screen in the re-imagined HBO series, you wouldn’t imagine Jaynes getting heard from again. Especially since bicameralism wasn’t even mentioned in the Michael Crichton’s original film. Yet, there he was. Early on in Westworld’s first season Dr. Ford, one of the creators of the park, explains how he and his co-founder Arnold used a “debunked” theory about the origins of consciousness to bootstrap A.I. The scientific community didn’t recognize bicameralism as an explanation for the origins of the human mind, but, as Dr. Ford suggests, it could be useful for building an artificial one. Thousands of people—perhaps more—started Googling for “bicameral mind.” Bloggers and YouTube channels capitalized on the sudden interest by writing articles and introductory videos about this weird, arguably psychedelic theory of consciousness. Suddenly everyone was interested.
By Jeremy Johnson7 years ago in Futurism
