I can't wrap my head around this

[Mudhammam]

Really, you couldn't have been a turtle, because your you. Yes, technically, that turtle could think, hypothetically, "I'm me but not you," but that would be him, or you as another person, which is not you. Ya know what I mean?

[bennyboy]

It doesn't make sense unless you believe in a soul that waits in some kind of limbo to choose or be assigned to a body.

I hope that was sarcasm.

Not at all. The only way any person could have been someone else is if the self is separate in some way from the body. Since most people here don't believe this, then the OP might as well be "Why isn't this orange an apple?" It isn't an apple because it isn't an apple, and we don't question it because there's no innate possibility for an orange to be anything but what it is. Same for people, unless you believe in a soul.

[Jacob(smooth)]

The question whose answer eludes and perplexes me the most is "why am I me and not somebody else?" Why is my state of consciousness that of being a male born in 1990 rather than say a woman in china 4000 years ago or an alien in another part of the universe? For all I know I could have been a turtle but I'm not. I'm me!

Why?!

Does anybody else wonder this?

Does this make any sense?!

http://youtu.be/0qOvAIZN4uo

[ignoramus]

On initial investigation, it seems illogical, like a play on words.
Eg, how many entities do you want to be at the same time. 1? You're it.

I wish I was Bill Gates111.
The genie says, OK, you're him.

I say, but I'm still here talking to you.
The genie says, but you are Bill Gates, he never had your memories, you are him and he is now you.

[Mudhammam]

I hope that was sarcasm.

Not at all. The only way any person could have been someone else is if the self is separate in some way from the body. Since most people here don't believe this, then the OP might as well be "Why isn't this orange an apple?" It isn't an apple because it isn't an apple, and we don't question it because there's no innate possibility for an orange to be anything but what it is. Same for people, unless you believe in a soul.

The self as separate from the body... Not a coherent idea. My body, my insides and out, is the only thing that can be properly identified as me. To make "me" that indescribable thing floating somewhere over there, that is somehow in control of my "physical self," is to completely divorce the concept of "me" from that mysterious entity. It's no longer "me" or "you" once you cannot even in principle describe it, understand it, actually relate to it in anyway, or claim any semblance of control over it ("it" is hence separate from not only the body, but YOU, yourself).

[LastPoet]

For some reason, I felt the need to post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xyGvpLOZ1Q

[DeistPaladin]

The question whose answer eludes and perplexes me the most is "why am I me and not somebody else?" Why is my state of consciousness that of being a male born in 1990 rather than say a woman in china 4000 years ago or an alien in another part of the universe? For all I know I could have been a turtle but I'm not. I'm me!

Why?!

Does anybody else wonder this?

Does this make any sense?!

People have wondered that at least since philosophical musings have been recorded. Why do we experience reality only from our own perspective and not anyone else's?

Maybe someday neuroscience will have some answers. I'd love to get my hands on a biology textbook that will be written 1,000 years from now.

[Rhizomorph13]

How about this, maybe we are all the same person reincarnated over and over again to live parallel lives and all the lives before and after the experienced "now" which is just a construct of consensus reality. Infinite recursion of the same person projected forward and back and parallel to itself. So you is me is we and we are all in this together. Also, if I kill a person I am merely releasing myself from one existence.

or

The big bang split gods personality into a soul soup that manifests in the fourth dimension like meat stars view-able only from a six dimensional viewpoint outside of time.

Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in reality.

[Napoléon]

I think everyone wonders this sometime or another, usually early. The answer is really very simple: BECAUSE. I wish there were a better answer, but that appears to it.

That's not an answer though. It doesn't explain anything. Least of all why.


But as science has shown us, why isn't always the best question to ask. We are no closer to understanding truly why the universe is the way it is than ancient philosophers were. The anthropic principle comes to mind when this question is asked, perhaps the same reasoning in this principle can be applied to our sense of self. If the universe were any other way, we wouldn't be here to debate it. If we were someone else, we would still be wondering why I'm me and not you. It's all infuriatingly futile in the end.

[The Grand Nudger]

People have wondered that at least since philosophical musings have been recorded. Why do we experience reality only from our own perspective and not anyone else's?

Maybe someday neuroscience will have some answers. I'd love to get my hands on a biology textbook that will be written 1,000 years from now.

Oh, that doesn't sound so complicated that we'd have to wait 1k years. Beyond a is a, b is b...I just heard a noise on my windowsill? Did you hear it?

So, why might you not have "experienced reality" from my perspective at that moment? I can think of at least one reason - you're not attached to -my- ears, and -I- am. Clearly may not be the only reason...we could probably think of a few more if we rubbed our heads together.