Bicameral Minds and Leaderless Tribes (with Tor Parsons)
Tor Parsons discusses how leaderless communities enforce norms through informal means like shunning and mob justice, contrasting this with rule-based societies. He also explores Julian Jaynes' bicameral mind hypothesis and its implications for human consciousness.
Deep Dive Analysis
10 Topic Outline
Introduction to Community Enforcement and Rules
The Akali Raft Experiment: Leaderless Community Dynamics
Hunter-Gatherer Societies and Mob Justice
Online Communities and Cancel Culture
The Need for Written Rules in Society
The Bicameral Mind Hypothesis Explained
Personal Experiences with Internal Voices and Consciousness
Tulpas, Plural Systems, and Subjective Mental States
Autism, Social Norms, and Different Ways of Thinking
The "Placeness" of Places and Spatial Thinking
11 Key Concepts
Akali Raft Experiment
An anthropological experiment in the 1970s where diverse individuals were put on a raft for 100 days to study social degeneration. Despite the organizer's intent to provoke conflict, the participants formed a cohesive community and planned to kill the organizer due to his cruelty.
Mob Justice
A form of social order in small-scale societies or leaderless communities where enforcement is distributed among all members. It ensures conformity to group norms, as defection can drag down the entire society.
Leveling Mechanisms
Social practices in hunter-gatherer societies designed to prevent individuals from appearing superior to the group. An example is hunters downplaying their success to avoid bragging.
Tall Poppy Syndrome
A social phenomenon, particularly noted in Australia, where individuals who stand out or boast about their achievements are metaphorically 'cut down' by the community. It's a mechanism to enforce humility and group equality.
Law of Jante
A Scandinavian cultural concept similar to tall poppy syndrome, emphasizing that individuals should not believe they are better than the collective. It promotes group cohesion and discourages individual arrogance.
Cancel Culture
A phenomenon in online communities where individuals are cast out of an in-group for violating vague, often unwritten, social norms or 'vibes.' It primarily targets those who previously had an in-group reputation.
Bicameral Mind
Julian Jaynes' hypothesis suggesting that before the Bronze Age collapse, humans' conscious left brain listened to and followed orders from an unconscious right brain, which they interpreted as a god. He posited this was the origin of consciousness as we know it today.
Plural Systems (DID)
A mental state where an individual experiences multiple distinct identities or 'alters' within their mind. While some theatrical portrayals exist, it's also a genuine phenomenon where the brain can create multiple selves under certain conditions.
Tulpamancy
An ancient Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, rediscovered online, involving the deliberate creation of another voice or entity within one's head. Practitioners imagine and communicate with this being until it feels like an independent presence.
Aphantasia
A condition where individuals are unable to form mental images. The discussion extends to people who also lack internal monologues, suggesting they might think in 'pure concepts.'
Placeness of Places
A concept describing how the emotional associations with a physical location can change its subjective feel, making it seem like a different place in physical space. This is tied to a 'locator' way of thinking.
8 Questions Answered
In such communities, power is often disguised as consensus, vibe, shunning, and informal reputation, leading to a state where everyone watches everyone else and mob justice serves as the primary enforcement mechanism.
No, a leaderless community does not eliminate power; it merely redistributes enforcement into every friendship, feed, and campfire, making everyone a 'cop' and often leading to stifling conformity.
Tight-knit groups, like the Mormons, often have strong, often unspoken, social norms that work well for those who fit the mold but can be incredibly difficult and suffocating for anyone who deviates or cannot conform.
Cancel culture is a phenomenon where individuals are cast out of an in-group for violating vague, 'vibe-based' norms, and it only works on people who once belonged to that in-group.
Clear, written rules, with agreed-upon enforcement, create more room for individuals to be 'weird' and for ideas to flourish, as people know exactly what behavior is acceptable and are less subject to arbitrary mob justice.
Julian Jaynes hypothesized that before the Bronze Age collapse, humans experienced their unconscious right brain's commands as divine voices, and the breakdown of this 'bicameral mind' led to modern consciousness and theory of mind.
Individuals with aphantasia or no internal monologue may think in 'pure concepts' rather than verbalizations or images, suggesting a different fundamental mode of cognitive processing.
Autistic individuals often struggle with unspoken social norms, so societies with detailed, explicit rules provide a clearer framework for behavior, creating a more even playing field and reducing social ambiguity.
7 Actionable Insights
1. Understand Leaderless Community Dynamics
In communities without formal rules or leadership, power doesn’t disappear; it manifests as informal reputation, shunning, and mob justice, where everyone becomes an enforcer. This means behavior is governed by vague norms rather than explicit laws.
2. Recognize Informal Social Enforcement
Understand that in leaderless or anarchic societies, conformity is enforced through shunning and mob justice, where every member acts as a ‘cop.’ This is necessary for group survival but can be stifling.
3. Cultivate Clear Written Rules
Advocate for clear, written rules in communities to allow for greater individual freedom and ‘weirdness.’ Explicit rules reduce arbitrary social enforcement and mob justice, creating a more predictable environment.
4. Beware of “Vibe” Based Judgments
Be cautious of communities where judgment and ‘cancellation’ are based on vague ‘vibes’ rather than explicit rule violations. This can lead to arbitrary punishment and a lack of clear boundaries for behavior.
5. Understand Cancel Culture’s In-Group Nature
Recognize that ‘cancel culture’ primarily targets individuals who were once part of an in-group and are perceived to have betrayed its norms. It’s an internal policing mechanism, not a cross-group phenomenon.
6. Leverage Explicit Rules for Neurodivergence
For neurodivergent individuals, especially those with autism, written rules provide a clearer framework for social interaction, reducing anxiety and creating a more equitable social environment compared to unspoken norms.
7. Recognize Unspoken Rule Utility
Understand that some social rules remain unspoken for valid reasons, such as protecting individuals from direct confrontation or potential danger. Not all implicit norms can or should be explicitly codified.
8 Key Quotes
When you don't have a real organizational structure that tells you who has the right to do what then mob justice is justice where there are no cops everyone is a cop.
Tor Parsons
when humans commit violence we do it the same way we do everything else together.
Tor Parsons
you can't be worse than the tribe you can't be better than the tribe either.
Tor Parsons
cancellation is something that only happens in the in group like there is no cross group cancellation it doesn't make sense.
Tor Parsons
if you have a really clarified set of rules you know everyone knows exactly what they are then as long as you're not violating those rules like no punishment happens to you so you can kind of do whatever you want which includes lots of you know being weird in lots of ways.
Tor Parsons
the autistic mind has a much larger range of possible experiences than the neurotypical mind.
Tor Parsons
I know it when I see it.
Tor Parsons
if you ask a fish to describe itself it won't mention it's in water.
Tor Parsons