Why am I Me?
At 5, I was hospitalized for a month due to pneumonia. Kids of that age have little fear of illnesses, and the discomfort is soon forgotten. What I still remember though is the intense boredom. It is during that dull month I started asking the question everyone has asked themself: "Among all the people in this world, why am I this particular one?". I still recall the ineffable yet intense feeling when thinking about it for the first time. Eventually I realized that's a question with no answer. Out of the vast number of things in existence, the fact that I am experiencing the world from the perspective of this particular thing- a human being- has no explanation. Logic and reason are unable to ascribe any underlying cause or rationale. "I am me" is just one fundamental truth that anyone has to take as a given. Yet this fundamental truth is different for each person. From each of our distinct perspectives, which physical thing is the "I" is different. Keeping track of such differences is both mentally consuming and often unnecessary. So there is a natural affinity to rid of the first-person and to think "objectively". Instead of basing it on one's own point of view, we organize thoughts and formulate arguments from an imaginary vantage point that is detached and impartial, with an immaterial gaze from nowhere. Though I consider such objectivism merely a shortcut for efficiency which has often been mistakenly regarded as an ideal, there is no denying its practical success. We all use it constantly with great results. Even when we do think about something from our own perspective, we can easily transcode it to the objective. All it seems to take is exchanging the perspective-dependent self - the "I"- for the particular person. So "I'm tall" can become "Dadadarren is tall". This is required since there is no "I" in objective reasoning. It is a gaze from nowhere after all. We all have performed these transcodings so frequently that they hardly require active though
I think this discussion is focusing on what other's would behave towards me, and derive what ought to be regarded as my future self from there. That is certainly a valid discussion to be had. However my post is taking about a different (thought related) topic.
For example, if I for whatever crazy reason thinks that me from tomorrow:—the one with (largely) the same physical body and no trick on memory whatsoever— not my future self. Then I would do a bunch of irresponsible things that would lead to others' dislike or hostility toward me that could eventually lead to my demise. But so what? If I regard that as a different person,... (read more)