Philosophical Psychology Vol 19 No 3 June 2006
Author uses Dennett's arguments against the Cartesian Theatre as a starting point for a discussion on the self and other concepts of a centralized self-identity. Dennett is hostile to the idea of a unified location or 'brain pearl' that has all systems of the brain in front of it. He uses the analogy of self-organizing systems that give the appearance of centralized intelligence but in fact have none (e.g. termite colonies). The origin of our thinking we have a centralized 'theatre' is our use of words to represent our actions to others-- a useful fiction. (pg 346-7)
Author agrees that there isn't a Cartesian Theatre, but thinks that doesn't mean we end up as termite colonies. Author uses an example of a ship that guides itself by using an internal map. Sensors receive input from the environment. The input is processed using various modules, and a program is run that takes the results of this processed information from all the sources and 'deliberates' about where it is on the map, and what course to set. This could all be displayed graphically, or it could simply be an internal, distributed program. The point is that there is a 'stream' that runs through the 'Joycean Machine', or a program that tries to place itself as a self-representation and 'deliberates' about what course to set. Author considers this the alternative to the self-organizing only model and the Cartesian Theatre model. (pg 349-51)
Author concedes that Dennett does not always talk as eliminatively as that. The tension within Dennett when he seems to endorse a limited 'Joycean Stream' but other times when he insists on only distributed self-organizing systems is reconciled, Author claims, if we take 'language as rooted in the development of explicit self-representation ... representation of ourselves and our states in a causally structured world' (pg 353) For Author, it is this need in social life for self-representation that lead to the Joycean Stream.
Author talks about three types of unity that the Joycean Machine enables:
-Synthetic Unity: the integrating of various disparate information sources.
-Univocity: when the information is integrated into a coherent stream, they are given a 'collective voice'. Here author uses much analogy: like a state-wide referendum that takes all different perspectives and makes them into a 'yes' or 'no', the Joycean Machine is the mouth-piece for a group that has a distributed identity. There is no 'commander' other than the reporter. (pg 356-7)
-Dynamical Unity: The Joycean Machine mediates interactions with other systems, as changes occur.
The important point of all of this is that the reporting of self doesn't mean there is an entity inside the brain 'the self'. The 'reporting' is more like asserting-- a performative that makes it true by concluding what is going on within itself.
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