Why am I who I am, and not someone else?

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Why am I who I am, and not someone else? Like say Bill Gates. Why am I conscious from my body, and not from another?

if you were someone else youd still be who you are

Why is everything in the Cosmos what it is?

ruveyn

Your brain and your consciousness are the same thing. For 'you' to be conscious from another body (here defining 'body' to include the brain) is metaphysically impossible.

It is what it is?

Because perception, consciousness and self-awareness arise from activity in the brain. You are who you are because your unique genetics have created a specific brain, that has been further modified through laying down an ongoing series of pathways that are unique to your brain, because your perception of your experiences is unique to you.

It's all in the anatomy of the 100,000,000,000 or so neurons and the 100,000,000,000,000 synapses in your particular brain.

That doesn't explain anything. Why would I experience consciousness from one brain and not another brain?

Last edited by Jitro on 08 Aug 2012, 2:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Because that is the way the world woks.

ruveyn

You ARE your brain .
Your brain is conscious with itsself. It cant be conscious with another brain.

Your question is like asking why cant I walk to the store on someone else's feet, or get nutrition from food someone else is eating.

Ontologically, each of us is, IMO, an individualized expression of the unity of humanity. We can experience both our own individualized attributes and the unity which connects us.

Because you can't be at two places at once? I have no idea what answer you're looking for beyond the obvious.

Well, why would I be one brain instead of a different brain? What is it that makes me the brain that I am? Or am I really a brain at all?

I think that you're contemplating on something that is a typical sidetrack that the mind can do. It's like optical illusions, it is tricking you to believe something that isn't real, because the mind can do errors like that. It's just how it is built. If you try to not continue on the track your mind is tricking you into, you will be nearer the truth. Which is the connection between the physical you and your consciousness. It is more or less the same. You were born and here you are today. The same body, the same brain, the same consciousness. Consistency, the only thing you can rely on.

You are not a brain. You are your consciousness. Which by physical laws are dependent on a brain. And the reason you are you is because it just is so; it's physical. You were born, and there you are. Don't rely so much on your mind.

I think the OP was asking 'why was I BORN this brain and not that brain?' - Not 'why not many brains at the same time or (atleast) many brains during the course one lifetime' (which does ofcourse appear to be impossible albeit fun to imagine ).

This is a real philosphical issue, maybe the philosophical issue as far as scientifically-valid metaphysics is concerned. It's a tricky one - I couldn't understand it until I was an adult. Just getting your head round it -as well as returning to it in reflection- is a mystical experience in itself.

Underscore, you could summarise your (and science's) answer as 'pure chance'. The only well-known answer from religion is ofcourse past-life karma, while

implies an underlying identity (i.e. soul/"God's plan") which many religions supply, thereby getting round this problem.

Comments about 'optical illusions _ _ tricking you to believe something that isn't real'{/'errors'} and 'being (far from) the truth' are irrelevant if we've already acknowledged the connection between brain and consciousness, but on the other hand, I'm not sure if I can confidently say that asking the OP question won't lead to a lifetime of mental illness _

Last edited by undefineable on 11 Aug 2012, 10:21 pm, edited 3 times in total.

You're chartering into self-evident territory. You're not going to find an answer that doesn't involve using circular logic.

"Bump" - Opening Poster, was I right in what I thought you meant?