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Comment by mjh2539 | Hacker News Reader

I think that Jaynes' hypothesis does not hold up the scrutiny. We have too many records of regular folks from antiquity that are counterexamples.

Somewhat relatedly, as late as the 13th century, the late Averroes held a substantial philosophical following that claimed that there was only one mind (the agent intellect, or the active intellect), and we all shared it. Its purpose was to explain the congruence of our thoughts, meanings, concepts, etc.

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When I'm feeling moody, I sometimes think that no human is sentient by themselves: we are only sentient (conscious?) as a group; and, specifically, as a group we're "supersentient" with a shared "IQ" in the hundreds, or higher. When you're alone, your sentience (and consciousness) will continue on residually — perhaps decaying over time; possibly for the remainder of your life, but you stop being truly sentient.

Google “Dasein”

This made me smile a little. As a hermit-by-choice, this has long been one of my theories about the rest of you talking monkeys when I'm feeling uncharitable.

Well, you're active here on HN, so you're not exactly a hermit in any traditional sense of the word.

Uhuh. Because traditionally, the Web existed

Traditionally, a hermit is someone who eschews contact with others, of any kind. Hermits don't spend their time writing and reading letters, for example, which have existed forever.

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