alt Hacker NewsThe way we humans see ourselves depends a lot on the technology of the time. An example I quite like is that when steam engines were all the rage, Freud compared the brain to a steam engine. Now that computers are all the hype, we compare the human brain to computers.
Intuitively the latter does feel closer to the truth (although maybe quantum computer would be even closer to reality). Or maybe that's just our contemporary lens of viewing technology and our place in the world, who knows what's next in a few hundred years. :)
edit: link for more context https://metaphors.iath.virginia.edu/metaphors/24583
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i personally never found that a compelling analogy, just because we do understand computers but we don't understand the brain.
but i guess that's the rhetorical move being used, substitute something the audience doesn't understand with something they do understand.
It's the same with some other mental health conditions. Centuries ago people with schizophrenia would hallucinate visions of angels or demons. Now they see "aliens". Expectations and interpretations are culturally programmed.