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Why am I me?
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:19 amby leg4li2ed0pe
Intellectually, I know that my ego simply does not exist, but since I was very young I have always wondered why I was born into this body, and not some other one. Now of course I am my body, so the question doesn't make sense, but I still want to know the answer. I think about how I am the universe viewing itself from this perticular position, and I wonder why I am not viewing it from some other person's position. Maybe this is the only position? Maybe nobody but me is conscious? I don't really believe that. There are other people living seemingly seperate lives from my own who seem to be viewing the universe from a different perspective. For me to even conceptualize another perspective from my own is nearly impossible. Obviously the way I describe this whole thing is off, because there is no "I" sitting behind each of my friends or me for that matter. If there was then there would need to be an "I" sitting behind each "I" and so on to infinity. So that obviously doesn''t even solve any problems. The only solution is that there is no "I" at all. But damnit it sure feels like I view the world from this perspective and others view it from another. Maybe I am the universe I percieve. Maybe the universe is sort of broken up into little pieces, with overlapping points of view, viewing it self, bringing those pieces into existence. Then there are other pieces being brought into existence by other observers. But the observers are essentially the pieces they observe because without them they do not exist. It still strikes me as odd, however, that any part of the universe can exist that I do not experience. As far as I am concerned they do not. And so even as others claim to be conscious, as far as I am concerned they are not, because I do not experience their consciousness. It is easy enough for me to understand an ego-less universe if "I" am the only point of view. Simply, the universe is a movie that just happens. But when other "I"s are brought into it, it becomes many movies. This is much harder to comprehend.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:50 amby socheat
Sounds like you've either seen "I Heart Huckabees", or you need to go see it. I saw the sneak preview last night, and everything you just said was basically covered in that movie as well. Coincidence?
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:20 amby Ian
I thought he mighta smoked too much dope.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 11:12 amby LoneWolf
He's probably taking Philosophy 153. He sounds like the writings of Anselme and Descartes. Which, when you read them in modern day is enough to drive anyone to the brink of insanity, what with sentences that last a full paragraph and words like "therefore" used fifteen times in that same paragraph.
Hint: Don't read un-modernized philosophy if you're an English major. You might just buy an Uzi and take out a K-Mart afterwards.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:52 pmby aviationwiz
Ian wrote:I thought he mighta smoked too much dope.
Yeah, I'm with you on that one.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 1:20 pmby leg4li2ed0pe
actually I haven't read much western philosophy. I am looking forward to my philosophy class 4th quarter though.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 2:42 pmby CowboySlim
I dunno' man, I just got here myself. OTH, the only thing that I do know is that I am eternally happy that I am me and not him.
Slim
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:05 pmby UALOneKPlus
Good question. You're you because you can't be me.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:53 pmby Boba_Fett
That is some deep shit. All I know (and think is true) is what that one dude said: I think, therefore I am!
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:59 pmby leg4li2ed0pe
Descartes. But what I want to know is why I think from this perticular position, at this perticular time, and not some other one.
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:08 pmby dolphinius_rex
Boba_Fett wrote:That is some deep shit. All I know (and think is true) is what that one dude said: I think, therefore I am!
I prefer the line:
"I might think, therefor I could be."
10 points if you know where that is a quote from!
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 5:30 pmby bill
dolphinius_rex wrote:Boba_Fett wrote:That is some deep shit. All I know (and think is true) is what that one dude said: I think, therefore I am!
I prefer the line:
"I might think, therefor I could be."
10 points if you know where that is a quote from!
John Kerry?
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:43 pmby dodecahedron
dang. politics!
another topic down the drains...
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:46 pmby dodecahedron
hey, leg4li2ed0pe, who is the dude in your avatar?
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:47 pmby dodecahedron
returning to the musings in the first post of this thread...
who was it that suggested the "brain in a box" argument? i can't recall...
Posted:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:51 pmby leg4li2ed0pe
My avatar is a picture of Timothy Leary printed on a sheet of blotter acid.
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:37 amby Boba_Fett
BigMonkey wrote:dolphinius_rex wrote:Boba_Fett wrote:That is some deep shit. All I know (and think is true) is what that one dude said: I think, therefore I am!
I prefer the line:
"I might think, therefor I could be."
10 points if you know where that is a quote from!
John Kerry?
ROFL. That is a good one. I think I'll add 20 bonus points
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 2:55 amby dolphinius_rex
BigMonkey wrote:dolphinius_rex wrote:Boba_Fett wrote:That is some deep shit. All I know (and think is true) is what that one dude said: I think, therefore I am!
I prefer the line:
"I might think, therefor I could be."
10 points if you know where that is a quote from!
John Kerry?
Wrong!
hint #1 - It is a quote that comes from within Europe.
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 5:48 amby bill
leg4li2ed0pe wrote:Descartes. But what I want to know is why I think from this perticular position, at this perticular time, and not some other one.
Why do you want to know?
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 6:19 amby bill
dodecahedron wrote:dang. politics!
another topic down the drains...
No politics, just an attempt at humor...
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 2:35 pmby leg4li2ed0pe
BigMonkey wrote:leg4li2ed0pe wrote:Descartes. But what I want to know is why I think from this perticular position, at this perticular time, and not some other one.
Why do you want to know?
For fun.
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 6:36 pmby dodecahedron
leg4li2ed0pe wrote:My avatar is a picture of Timothy Leary printed on a sheet of blotter acid.
who is Timothy Leary?
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:23 pmby LoneWolf
dodecahedron wrote:leg4li2ed0pe wrote:My avatar is a picture of Timothy Leary printed on a sheet of blotter acid.
who is Timothy Leary?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:34 pmby leg4li2ed0pe
I love that picture of him on that wikipedia page. He looks more free than the two guys holding him.
Posted:
Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:38 pmby aviationwiz
leg4li2ed0pe wrote:I love that picture of him on that wikipedia page. He looks more free than the two guys holding him.
That much is true,
