Bo Robert Ek

In the 1980s, a woman named Patsy Hage was undergoing treatment for schizophrenia. She was tormented by voices and suicidal thoughts. The only thing that kept her alive was a book with the title The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Because, according to the books author, Julian Jaynes, it was normal in prehistoric times to hear voices inside one's head.

But as human language and, in particular, the written language developed among our ancestors so humans' auditory and visual hallucinations began to fade away and eventually disappeared completely.

With the digital revolution which we have just started to venture into, one can see a shift that is just as revolutionary as the introduction of the written word. Because for the first time in history we are starting to outsource our brains to something that directly and measurably communicates back, where dialogues and thoughts in-between people adapt and gradually build up. Thanks to digitalisation our human consciousness has radically started to transform into a state similar to the bicameral condition of prehistoric times.

As the diagnosed cases of schizophrenia are now on the increase it is time to act. Rather than condemn schizophrenia as a disease, The Institute of Bicamerality will celebrate it in a wonderful work of architecture.

A spectacular event is to be staged at Stonehenge.