The Composite Human

*A Continuation of This Post from 2/11/24*

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: the word “Montezuma” just popped into my head. I have no idea why.

I was standing in my bedroom, looking at my TV, bed, desk, and plant, and amidst this looking, the word “Montezuma,” followed by the phrase “Montezuma’s corpse,” just narrated itself. Or rather, I said it, as I say these words now, only I am choosing these words I say now with intent, while the words in my room appeared as an unconscious and arbitrary action.

No doubt the words were spurred by the DMN (default mode network) of my brain, which picked up on a trigger my conscious self was not aware of. I suspect it’s a word I heard in a podcast 1-2 days ago while doing dishes/eating. Throughline from NPR did an episode talking about the Aztecs; I enjoyed it.

But it’s also possible that word never appeared in that podcast episode, but my brain associates Montezuma (I don’t even know who that is) with Spanish/Aztec topics, so it popped in my head anyway. Perhaps in my room some moments ago I was unconsciously thinking about that Throughline episode when “Montezuma” bubbled up to the conscious surface. Who’s to say. Entropy, I feel, lives inside the skulls of all of us.