Exploring Consciousness and Agency in Bronze Age Cultures

Steven Byrnes is a physicist/AI researcher/amateur neuroscientist; needless to say, he blogs on Less Wrong. I finally got around to reading his 2024 series giving a predictive processing perspective on intuitive self-models. If that sounds boring, it shouldn't: Byrnes charges head-on into some of the toughest subjects in psychology, including trance, amnesia, and multiple personalities. I found his perspective enlightening (no pun intended; meditation is another one of his topics) and thought I would share.

It all centers around this picture:

But first: some excruciatingly obvious philosophical preliminaries.

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/practically-a-book-review-byrnes