What Is "Me," Exactly?

[J. Reed]

So far as I know, this hasn't yet been done.

Here's my attempt to sound all deep and profound. [sub]Nah. I don't think it is, really.[/sub]

It's this odd little question that's been swimming around my brain for awhile:


"What Is Me?"


Let me elaborate. I refer to myself as me, or I. However, my brain is the organ physically thinking this thought.

But yet I refer to my brain as my brain, and not "me."

This is odd to me.

I'm tired and have a headache, so I apologize if I'm not entirely clear, but you can probably get the gist of my meaning, anyway.

EDIT:

Ahh, I feel much more coherent today.

And to clarify, despite my previous claim of attempted profundity, this isn't an existential conundrum for me or anything. Just an idea I find to be fairly interesting.

 

[rekabdarb]

hmm yes, what is ME. Am i really here. Do others exist? how do i know i am here, and that you are really here. What if you are just my imagination.

 

[RatRace123]

That's a good question. My answer would have to be: You are the sum of your parts, brain, body and soul (if you believe in such things). Your Brain is no more capable of being you without your body than your body is without your brain.

I think that made sense.

 

[ultrachicken]

I've thought about that, too.
The brain is who we really are, the body keeps the brain alive.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Umm, yeah, I get your question.
You are, well, you, the entire organism.
If your legs fail to work and complete the tasks that your brain gives to them (let's say through some kind of ilness), that's still you.

That's a good question. My answer would have to be: You are the sum of your parts, brain, body and soul (if you believe in such things). Your Brain is no more capable of being you without your body than your body is without your brain.

I think that made sense.

Tah-dah. Much more well-explained than I could ever attempt to.
That's basically what I meant.

 

[Anah'ya]

Your brain is not an entity. Your brain is an organ.

Unless you're trying to tell us that I see, is actually Eye see. In that case I will now borrow my head into the ground like a good ostrich and attempt to stop the spinning of the world around me.

 

[Frequen-Z]

'Me' is me as a whole, my brain is just a part of me.

 

[NLS]

Me is what is living inside my brain.

 

[AllLagNoFrag]

Hmm... yea Im going to have to go with the brain. After all, most causes of death are lack of oxygen going to the brain (the brain dying). If you are brain dead, you won't be the same. However, you could lose a limb and still be you (just less capable).

Also, the soul is a good one. They did some experiments that provided inconclusive evidence but, showed that the human body loses a fraction of weight post mortum (which could be what we call the "soul").

"What Is Me?"

I'm tired and have a headache, so I apologize if I'm not entirely clear, but you can probably get the gist of my meaning, anyway.

Only because you have a headache etc, Im going to be extremely childish and say "ME" is a common abbreviation of the famous RPG Mass Effect by Bioware. (yes, this is lame but, you laugh at how lame it is.)

 

[Jack_Uzi]

Because your brain is just part of the ME but not as a whole. Your further appearence and posture are also part of the ME and brain. ..Lemme think.. *f*ck!*..I see what you did there!
Let me try to put it in another way that might sound silly: your brain is controlling the rest of your body but is not the supreme being of ME because it needs the rest. Hope I made myself a bit understandable here.

 

[lithiumvocals]

If you look outside of a window now and see a masked man with a chainsaw, you and anyone close to you will be dead by sunrise.

 

[J. Reed]

hmm yes, what is ME. Am i really here. Do others exist? how do i know i am here, and that you are really here. What if you are just my imagination.

Not really what I was asking, but okay, I guess.

I was just intrigued that an information-processing organ is sentient enough to be able to take a step back and look objectively at itself in the third person.

 

[Kajt]

Me is all my organs and my mind combined, perhaps?

 

[likalaruku]

I is me, you is you, I is a me & you is a me too.

 

[Dollar Bill]

It is I

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I think of it this way, "I" am the black behind the eyes, my brain is just an organ, a crazy complicated organ, but an organ nonetheless.

 

[Jovlo]

According to that course of ethics I had to study this semester, "Me" refers to how you think others perceive you and how they will react to you.
It's not something objective, and if you think people will reject you for being you, you have low self-esteem.
'Me' is an idea.

Don't ask what that has to do with ethics.

 

[verindae]

I think the problem here is that you can argue that "Me" is the sum of my personality and experience. If the conciousness were removed from the physical and stood as a singular entity would it still be you? Legally, probably not but philosophically speaking(?) I would have to say yes

(Edited for clarification)

 

[Kimdeal]

Also, the soul is a good one. They did some experiments that provided inconclusive evidence but, showed that the human body loses a fraction of weight post mortum (which could be what we call the "soul").

I dont suppose you happen to know what that study was, or who conducted it? A lot of "experiments" get done by people with a huge bias, just so they can say "I remember seeing about this experiment that showed fu"

An interesting question, certainly, but one which doesnt seem to have a huge amount of practical application. Certainly the more we learn about the brain, the more evidence we have of that being the house of consciousness. The more bits you chop out, the less effective we are.

"ME", as a term, is really pretty context sensitive. for example, you can say "you are embarassed by me", and be refering to either "me" as a body (say if all my clothes fall in public everyone sees my tattoo of the Drake equation), or "me" as a consciousness (say if I were to give an overly long winded responce to a question that has been pondered on by many people smarter than myself, and i really have no place discussing such things).