[MD] S/O Divide - Universal and Innate?

[Platt Holden]

Hi All, 

Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale, believes that the S/O, mind-matter 
duality happens very early in life. An article in "New Scientist" entitled 
"Born Believers - How your mind creates God." relates Bloom's ideas:

"So how does the brain conjure up gods? One of the key factors, says Bloom, 
is the fact that our brains have separate cognitive systems for dealing 
with living things - things with minds, or at least volition - and 
inanimate objects.

"This separation happens very early in life. Bloom and colleagues have 
shown that babies as young as five months make a distinction between 
inanimate objects and people. Shown a box moving in a stop-start way, 
babies show surprise. But a person moving in the same way elicits no 
surprise. To babies, objects ought to obey the laws of physics and move in 
a predictable way. People, on the other hand, have their own intentions and 
goals, and move however they choose.

"Bloom says the two systems are autonomous, leaving us with two viewpoints 
on the world: one that deals with minds, and one that handles physical 
aspects of the world. He calls this innate assumption that mind and matter 
are distinct "common-sense dualism". The body is for physical processes, 
like eating and moving, while the mind carries our consciousness in a 
separate - and separable - package. "We very naturally accept you can leave 
your body in a dream, or in astral projection or some sort of magic," Bloom 
says. "These are universal views." "

The full article is at:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126941.700-born-believers-how-your-
brain-creates-god.html?full=true

Platt