The subjective experience of having personal agency may be illusory

Vsauce Explains How Consciousness May Have Come About

I liked this discussion between Alex O’Connor and Michael Stevens on what consciousness is. And how cultural conceptions of it may have evolved over time.

Steven talks about the Bicameral Mind Theory, which claims that early humans, prior to around 1000 BC, did not possess self-aware consciousness as we know it. (This was new for me. On the surface, I find it difficult to believe. But it’s an interesting hypothesis nonetheless.)

I found the video interesting because the discussion was tangential to some of the things that have been on my mind lately. About how the control which our conscious, narrative self feels over our actions is largely illusory.