[From Dick Robertson, 2009.08.10.1038CDT]
[Martin Taylor 2009.08.10.10.21]
[From Rick Marken (2009.08.09.2250)]
Yes, I was (and remain) astonished that such a good scientist
could so compartmentalize his perceptions of the way the world works. It
seems that the ability to sustain mutually incompatible perceptions is
one that might well need a PCT explanation. Perhaps such an
explanation might also go some way toward an explanation of multiple
personalities, in which one personality seems to be unaware of another.
Modularity of mind in the extreme!
I think that is an astute speculation, Martin. As one who has had some dealings with people claiming to possess/ experience/suffer multiple personalities I have speculated that a powerful self-system might construct “replicas” (that’s not the word I really want, but I can’t recall the word for those kinds of alternative selves that computer game players can get so invested in as sometimes to lose their awareness of who the real person is. AH, the word just came to me: Avatar.) for the purpose of engaging in the “alternative reality” of a simulated world. Clinical multiple personalities are not considered products of such fun, of course. They are believed to result from such brutalization of a child that the self system splits into parts at least some of which do no longer feel the pain.
Best,
Dick R