Why am I me?

[ib.me.ub]

I just sometimes wonder why I ever became aware at all.

Nobody knows 100% for sure yet, it's too soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_proble...sciousness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousne...e_thing.3F

So, lets all line up and take our best stab in the dark.

[dogma]

Your question can only ever be grasped by a very select few. I have asked this question many times with no avail. After thinking about it long and hard here is how i have come to view this matter.
Whatever it is that generates "you" in your brain is a mystery to science at the moment. Picture your brain like a computer desk top and the ram being "you". Experiences and memories really have no baring on why your you. I could take your memory and surgically remove it and damage your brain entirely, it wouldn't change the fact that "you" were still in that body bound to that specific mind. You wouldn't act the same but you would still be you technically. If i were to remove the ram(you) and put someone else in, that new person would now have access to your memories your mind and biology. That new ram chip would now be what you are now and have no idea it was ever someone else. "you" on the other hand would no longer exist but nobody would ever really be able to know that because the new cousiesness would act and think exactly like you but its not really the same person i am talking to now. Whatever it is that makes you "you" is not the entire brain. Its something else plugged in to the rest of the hardware like someone driving a car. You happen to be driving that specific car...why???? i don't know.

[KichigaiNeko]

Wonderful dogma!

You have successfully resurrected an old thread now if you would be so kind as to hop along to the Introduction Thread here.... and introduce yourself.... tell us a little about WHY you found this particular thread sooo inviting......there's a good chap.

---

Oh and thank-you for proving my point.

[Rhizomorph13]

Your question can only ever be grasped by a very select few. I have asked this question many times with no avail. After thinking about it long and hard here is how i have come to view this matter.
Whatever it is that generates "you" in your brain is a mystery to science at the moment. Picture your brain like a computer desk top and the ram being "you". Experiences and memories really have no baring on why your you. I could take your memory and surgically remove it and damage your brain entirely, it wouldn't change the fact that "you" were still in that body bound to that specific mind. You wouldn't act the same but you would still be you technically. If i were to remove the ram(you) and put someone else in, that new person would now have access to your memories your mind and biology. That new ram chip would now be what you are now and have no idea it was ever someone else. "you" on the other hand would no longer exist but nobody would ever really be able to know that because the new cousiesness would act and think exactly like you but its not really the same person i am talking to now. Whatever it is that makes you "you" is not the entire brain. Its something else plugged in to the rest of the hardware like someone driving a car. You happen to be driving that specific car...why???? i don't know.

Great, you have shown two things with this post:

1. You don't know how computers work
2. You are a dualist who believes we are spirits inside meat vehicles

You were on the right track with the computer analogy but the ram would be the configuration of neurons within the brain and "you" would be the program running within those neurons. If you were to remove the neurons "you" would be severely altered and therefore cease to exist. Welcome to the forums.

[jason56]

The combat/answer to all philosophical questions is the same:

1) We haven't defined that enough (and never will).

Mankind will never truly define what an apple is, nevermind what ever this shit is.

[dogma]

I never said anything about spirits. I do not mix faith with science. Arguments that are not falsifiable are not very good ones so I would never make them. You failed to grasp what the analogy was meant to represent. His question was simple, he asked why he is him. There is no proof the neurons are what dictate he is him. Every brain had neurons why all of a sudden some body appears when billions came before and now "he" or "she" is self aware. What makes his or her neurons unique that that dictate all of a sudden i am here now. Evolution explains my body and why i am here. It fails to explain why its me inside here and not you reading this post. Please don't fall back on the argument genetics and biology. That explains what you call our meat machines. It does not explain why you are bound to that specific body. All brains are pretty much the same so if memories and experience are what make us why are my memories unique to me and yours to you. It could have been the other way around you could have been me. It's something neither of us know and please do not put words in my mouth. If i happen to believe in a soul that my business alone. I never mentioned it here.

[Rhizomorph13]

Dogma,

The way you talk about the self as being seperate from the brain is evidence that you believe in dualism. I was only talking about what you posted. I think that the person we are is an artifact of brain operations and the reason that I am different than you is because I have had different influences in my life as well as different genetic effects that cause me to be a certain way. I didn't fail to understand what you wrote I simply disagree with you.

[Perhaps]

Being conscious individually, as I assume everyone else is, the question comes to mind; why do I exist from a 1st person point of view? Obviously I couldn't exist from a 3rd person POV, but when I die it'll seem to me as if the world ends; MY world will end. How can I explain this... When you sleep without dreaming everything is nonremembered, and seems 'black'. If death is the same, then it'll be lights out for eternity, and therefore I'm wondering why I'm conscious to begin with. Why me? Why here? Why now? Why at all? etc.

Any answers or ideas? I've asked my friends and family, but they don't really grasp the concept of the question.

A beautiful string of thoughts. The answer is your own. Just as each person's purpose is self defined, so too is their answer to 'why'.

To view sentience as merely evolutionary is rational but non-intimate. We are limited by our knowledge and we ascribe reason to occurrences in the world which we perceive.

Nietzsche developed this branch of skepticism thoroughly, implying that there will always be a barrier between absolute truth and reality. That barrier is the human species. All things are perceived and all truths are based on their utility to the human conscience. To provide a human truth such as evolution to explain away why we exist at all is simply to provide a contingent explanation.

Take these questions seriously and reflect on them. The answer will never be definitive, but that's alright. It's often difficult to balance human arrogance with human naivety. Sometimes knowing that we can never know is the most humbling truth of all.

[Edit] Perhaps something which may be easier initially is to answer the question of do I exist? and is there a reason?

The question of 'is' is often easier and less complex than the question of 'why'.

[dogma]

I do not believe we have bodies, I believe we are bodies. When my body fails or malfunctions (especially me 28 years old and gamble and drink as if planet x were coming) my entire being, my thoughts, my feeling, my desires, my love will all cease to exist. I understand that entirely, the energy that makes up my body will continue on in other forms but me, my arrangement which i am glad came about will be over. I believe science can explain everything but as for me religious views let me make something clear. It's based on faith (what you say superstition and fairytales). To me religion can be a problem but not the search for God. The bible can not be taken literally, it never was by me. Jesus spoke in parables, we all know that those stories he told never happened, he was giving a guideline to live. To hate is scientifically proven to reduce your lifespan, so forgive your enemies otherwise the burden you hold is like living in hell. Anyways i am here to convert no one. The fact is it's a mystery to why one brain decides to be one person a unique individual who simply exists for no reason at all so you say. Memories and experiences make us who we are true when your speaking about character. The question here is why are my memories my experiences are unique to "me" whatever "me" is. It surly does not have to be me and furthermore, i was in charge of my body long before i experienced anything at all. Most of my experiences and memories were choices I made to experience. I was still me before I made those connections in my brain to become a good musician. Memories and experiences do not explain why your body chose to bring you into existence and not one of the other billions of life forms. It's a mystery to us all and if it proves to be evidence of something more then so be it. I am not an anti-theist, I welcome the idea of grand designer. Christopher Hitchens was against it which was his freedom of choice to make. I on the other hand do not welcome the idea of never existing or never seeing my loved ones again. So I will search for something more but never impose on others anything or condemn anyone. I may find nothing at all, i may find something or i may be dismissed all together but in the end I hope God is standing there. Hate and war is all a human condition, rid the world of religion believe me people will find ways to kill again (oil, money, greed, land, race, political beliefs and they will always invent something to keep killing)....evolutionary instincts are the reason we are in troulble not religion. If religion were invented by man then man will go on iventing other reason to keep on thinking one is better then the other long after religion is gone.

[The Grand Nudger]

The question here is why are my memories my experiences are unique to "me" whatever "me" is.

Are they? Don't your parents have memories of you as a child that are within the grasp of your own recollection? You aren't your memories. You have memories. We could swing this pendulum back and forth but at no time do we need to lay a mystical sense of wonderment over it.

It surly does not have to be me and furthermore, i was in charge of my body long before i experienced anything at all.

No, you weren't.

Most of my experiences and memories were choices I made to experience. I was still me before I made those connections in my brain to become a good musician.

.......and you remain yourself after having learned to play, correct.

Memories and experiences do not explain why your body chose to bring you into existence

I'm not sure that anyone is proposing the idea that memories have such powers.......so I don't know who or what you're arguing against here.

and not one of the other billions of life forms.

hint: memories and experiences that an individual may one day have exert no influence on what types of creatures their parents will be. Again, I don't know who or what you feel proposes this, but it's definitely not anything even approximating the "party line" on the matter.

It's a mystery to us all

Not the things you mentioned above, no. They are apparently a mystery to you, working from some strange ideas.

and if it proves to be evidence of something more then so be it.

"It" would have to be evidence to begin with.

I am not an anti-theist, I welcome the idea of grand designer.

I would hope so, being a christian.

Christopher Hitchens was against it which was his freedom of choice to make. I on the other hand do not welcome the idea of never existing or never seeing my loved ones again. So I will search for something more but never impose on others anything or condemn anyone.

I don't welcome the idea either, but that doesn't mean that it isn't the case. Glad to know that you aren't the condemning type. Breath of fresh air.

I may find nothing at all, i may find something or i may be dismissed all together but in the end I hope God is standing there.

So, nothing yet?

Hate and war is all a human condition, rid the world of religion believe me people will find ways to kill again (oil, money, greed, land, race, political beliefs and they will always invent something to keep killing)

Agreed. But they won't have one "way" available to them, a reason that goes right alongside all the others as "a human condition"..religion.

.....evolutionary instincts are the reason we are in troulble not religion.

they both have their part to play, especially when they meet on fertile grounds.

If religion were invented by man then man will go on iventing other reason to keep on thinking one is better then the other long after religion is gone.

That is precisely what we have done so far.