(no subject)

[hexpiritus.livejournal.com]

"The style of resolution of inner conflicts is one of the strongest features of personality.

It is a common myth that each person is a unity, a kind of unitary organization with a will of its own. Quite the contrary, a person is an amalgamation of many subpersons, all with wills of their own. The "subpeople" are considerably less complex than the overall person, and consequently they have much less of a problem with internal discipline. If they are themselves split, probably their component parts are so simple that they are of a single mind-- and if not, you can continue down the line. This hierarchical organization of personality is something that does not much please our sense of dignity, but there is much evidence for it."

-from Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, specifically in a section written by Douglas Hofstadter (physicist, and professor of Cognitive Science, Computer Science, History, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy, Comparative Literature, and Psychology)

(x-posted)

Comments

[kiya]

For what it's worth, we'd consider the quoted bit a decent, if a touch pejorative, description of our (median-type) system. We're probably a touch more distinct, complex, and individual than Hofstadter would expect, but as a model it's not wrong, just a touch on the "insufficiently correct" side.

I strongly suspect that each of us is slightly more . . . focused? than we'd be independently; whether this is our nature or simply because others handle things we'd otherwise have to do individually I don't know. I suspect some of both; I mean, if Silver didn't have the rest of us she'd need to learn to talk.

I thought as much

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

However, I didn't want to say, because I'm far from an expert. It did seem to have a similar gist to it, as the experience medians have described.

--Me