The Unconscious and the Cane

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Karthi: Language is like some annoying little brother or something like that. The unconscious knows how to deal with us and how to get our organism through life. But all of the, so much of what we have and our ability to cooperate and coordinate and communicate is only because of language. All of the modern problems we face seem to have some connection to our ability to have a language.

The Summer of Cormac McCarthy continues – this time we dive into his one piece of non-fiction, the short essay “The Kekulé Problem.” How does our unconscious mind solve problems that conscious deliberation can’t crack? Why does it often work elliptically, in code, rather than giving us the answer directly in language? Is McCarthy right that the unconscious doesn’t trust language because it’s such a newcomer to the human brain?

Plus we select the finalists for our listener selected episode – thanks to our beloved patrons for all their terrific suggestions!

"The Kekulé Problem" by Cormac McCarthy

Pinker & Bloom 1990

Dijksterhuis & Strick 2016