Jaynes is one of the best commentators on the true nature of consciousness. The analogue camera – stocked up with blank film waiting to be populated with content and requiring subsequent treatment by a chemical developer – is a much better metaphor for empiricism than Locke’s idea of the mind as a mere “blank slate”, waiting to have experiences impressed upon it. Why? – because the technology of the camera and the development process has to be explained, and that cannot be done via the pictures taken by the camera. Locke’s blank slate, by contrast, has no technology, hence can be glossed over.
Jaynes is one of the best commentators on the true nature of consciousness. The analogue camera – stocked up with blank film waiting to be populated with content and requiring subsequent treatment by a chemical developer – is a much better metaphor for empiricism than Locke’s idea of the mind as a mere “blank slate”, waiting to have experiences impressed upon it. Why? – because the technology of the camera and the development process has to be explained, and that cannot be done via the pictures taken by the camera. Locke’s blank slate, by contrast, has no technology, hence can be glossed over. (That said, Locke should have been forced to explain what the blank slate actually was, ontologically, and how it could receive sensory impressions … his explanation could not have relied empiricist arguments since the slate precedes experiences. It must exist first in order for experiences to be writeable on it.) A digital camera that we can link to a smartphone, or computer, or the internet is even better than the analogue camera for exposing the inadequacy of Locke’s blank-slate empiricism. Taking pictures – analogous to having experiences – presupposes a highly sophisticated operating system, programming language and technology, all of which are required in order to have any experiences at all, thus refuting empiricism as the source of knowledge. Imagine a camera taking one picture after another. There is no knowledge at the end, just a vast collection of pictures. Something need...
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