The Cost of Self: Anxiety, Isolation, and the Race for Status

In the 1970s, Boris Porshnev and Julian Jaynes independently reached similar conclusions about the concept of the self. They proposed that the inner self is a relatively recent historical development rather than an innate biological feature. Porshnev viewed it as emerging from the tension between suggestion and counter-suggestion, acting as a resistance point against external commands. In contrast, Jaynes described it as a linguistic framework for self-description that arose following the decline of 'the voices of the gods.' Today, these ideas can be reinterpreted through concepts like shared intentionality, epistemic vigilance, and source monitoring. The introduction of a large language model (LLM) as an intermediary between individuals raises questions about the nature of suggestion without a suggestor, a scenario not accounted for in Porshnev's framework. This absence of counter-suggestive mechanisms leads to a shift in the race for identity construction towards infrastructural levels. This prompts a critical examination of what we are trying to protect from AI and whether such protection is necessary.