darrenm Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I come down on the atheist side of agnostic but I can't wrap my head around 'how the fick did I get to be me??!' If a different sperm fertalised the egg would it have been another person in a slightly different body? Or would I have been assigned the next one anyway? What about a different egg? What carries 'me'? I'm here peering out from behind these eyes, but my eyes and body aren't really me, I'm a non defined entity habiting this binding of material making my body. But how does the entity get assigned? Am I that much of an infinitesimal anomaly? Is everyone? I know that these questions are at the very fundamentals of each religion and general human self, but to me they prove the existence of something bigger than what I understand of see here. Not some being or deity, but some system of entity assignment we don't understand. Anyone else have these thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 'I' am the product of chemistry and environment. Who I am came after the event of my conception, 'I' was not a being waiting on a conveyer belt for a body to be dropped into. And you're eyes and body are you. Completely, utterly, intrinsically you. The 'ghost within the machine' is not a separate entity, a non-defined soul-like thing. This poses some identity problems of course. But rest assured, everything you are is a product of perfectly explainable processes 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Meath_Villan Posted June 25, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted June 25, 2013 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I have these thoughts all the time, whether I'm under the influence of a substance or not. It is rather mindblowing but it just drives me a little crazy and I reach the point where I feel that I'll never find out until right at the end of things, and maybe not even then. For that reason, I just try and enjoy the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I have those exacts thoughts but I'm never sure how to really explain them! Pretty weird stuff. If my parents didn't have me, would I be alive with a different family now or would I have never existed? Why am I hear now and not 50 years ago or 50 years in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLN Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I'm my brain's interpretation of what I perceive around me and how I think I should act in response to what happens around me. In terms of whether or not the stuff that goes on around me is as I interpret or whether anything is as it seems is something I've decided to ignore. And just pretend that things are significant. I add value to things that are supposed to have value attached, for instance becoming a doctor, getting a girlfriend, being happy etc, even though when all is said and done, nothing I do, or anyone else does will matter. In 10,000 years if I made a person who is unhappy feel better about herself, or made my father proud, it won't matter a damn. And further into the future when humans have been locked into the history books as another failed mutation that did their best to pollute a lot of the earth while they were on it, what we have done will matter even less. Those that are dead will not look back on my achievements with any degree of nostalgia and they won't be impressed, or upset by what I have or haven't done, because they are dead and can't remember to breathe, never mind that I was an unmerciful word removed. If I did not assign value to the things I do, I'd probably just spend all day watching the poker channel, wanking and eating those expensive German biscuits. Convincing myself that things matter is my greatest con 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 You're just a relatively sophisticated tool that your genes use to replicate themselves. Nothing personal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 “My thought is me: that’s why I can’t stop. I exist because I think … and I can’t stop myself from thinking. At this very moment, it’s frightful, if I exist, it is because I am horrified at existing. I am the one who pulls myself from the nothingness to which I aspire: the hatred, the disgust of existing, there are as many ways to make myself exist, to thrust myself into existence. Thoughts are born at the back of me, like sudden giddiness, I feel them being born behind my head … if I yield, they’re going to come round in front of me, between my eyes, and I always yield, the thought grows and grows and there it is, immense, filling me completely and renewing my existence.” Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I have an existential crisis every time I venture in to the Bannan thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 26, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted June 26, 2013 I used to think about this when I was a kid. What if I was somebody else? But then I wouldn't be me, I'd be him. And he's already him, and thinks of himself as the only "I" in the universe, same as I do. I think I concluded that I actually was everybody else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0BeLz5blM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 (edited) I often wondered about Cloning as it would presumably be cloned from me as of now , would that clone be exactly me , my memories , my mannerisms , my bad spelling .. and once my clone and I leave the lab , we come to a junction and I decide to turn left , would my clone also turn left , or would free will allow him decide to turn right ..at which point arguably he is no longer me Edited June 26, 2013 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Hm, we may need a neuroscientist to help with that answer (I don't know the exact nature of memory), but if the clone was exactly the same, he'd turn left too. No such thing as free will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I occasionally have these thoughts, why am I here, if my mum had said no that night would I even exist or would I be someone else in another country. Why was I born in England and why was I not born into some poor family in India or Africa. Why was I born when I was. Why did God or whoever choose me to be me and be born into the family I was. All strange questions which I guess we will never know the answer to. I guess we should just get on with life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I often wondered about Cloning as it would presumably be cloned from me as of now , would that clone be exactly me , my memories , my mannerisms , my bad spelling .. and once my clone and I leave the lab , we come to a junction and I decide to turn left , would my clone also turn left , or would free will make him decide to turn right ..and which point arguably he is no longer me Well, if she shall try this out, let's not make a clone of you. "All I want is the same as everyone: Why am I here? And for how long? And I raise my head and stare, Into the eyes of a stranger" Sorry, couldn't resist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 What is real though, depends on your definition of real.................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Hm, we may need a neuroscientist to help with that answer (I don't know the exact nature of memory), but if the clone was exactly the same, he'd turn left too. No such thing as free will. as we differ on free will that may determine our difference of opinion ... but I think the clone could turn right if he wanted to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I often wondered about Cloning as it would presumably be cloned from me as of now , would that clone be exactly me , my memories , my mannerisms , my bad spelling .. and once my clone and I leave the lab , we come to a junction and I decide to turn left , would my clone also turn left , or would free will make him decide to turn right ..and which point arguably he is no longer me Well, if she shall try this out, let's not make a clone of you. "All I want is the same as everyone: Why am I here? And for how long? And I raise my head and stare, Into the eyes of a stranger" Sorry, couldn't resist. my army of clones shall seek you out .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I often wondered about Cloning as it would presumably be cloned from me as of now , would that clone be exactly me , my memories , my mannerisms , my bad spelling .. and once my clone and I leave the lab , we come to a junction and I decide to turn left , would my clone also turn left , or would free will make him decide to turn right ..and which point arguably he is no longer me Well, if she shall try this out, let's not make a clone of you. "All I want is the same as everyone: Why am I here? And for how long? And I raise my head and stare, Into the eyes of a stranger" Sorry, couldn't resist. my army of clones shall seek you out .... Already met them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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