Where Does Your Sense of Self Come From? A Scientific Look | Anil Ananthaswamy | TED

Our memories and bodies give us clues about who we are, but what happens when this guidance shifts? In this mind-bending talk, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy shares how the experiences of "altered selves" -- resulting from schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, foreign limb syndrome or other conditions -- shed light on the constructed nature of identity. He breaks down where our sense of self comes from and invites us to challenge our assumptions about who we are, with the aim of building a better you and a better world.

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[R.A.M_]

I can't speak for anyone else's version of themselves, but I can say this...Most often, reality is simply the most socially agreed upon hallucination

[Larry]

I think that "self" evolved from our animal ancestors into a more complex phenomenon in humans. Knowing that your toe is not food is important. Conscious self is our nervous system continuously seeking equilibrium.

[RealMidoryu]

My current opinions on the sense of self first came from the thought experiment "The Ship of Theseus". It's a fascinating, very relevant experiment, and the super dumbed-down version boils down to, "is a ship that has had all its components replaced still the same ship?"

As of right now, Encyclopedia Brittanica has a theological solution for this. Having come from a science background, my argument is that the ship never is the same ship from one snapshot in time to the next, from large-scale changes such as weathering and oxidation, to other chemical processes being maintained in dynamic equilibrium, and down to quantum processes that are never the same configuration from one moment to the next.

The same can be said of people.

Our constant changes get layered on to our selves with each passing second like layers on a tree ring. We are same same but different.

[KageKen]

12:28 Awareness…that’s what I am, that’s my ‘story’. Perception is awareness from a single point of knowledge. I exist at the moment of my current awareness, the ‘Now’, if you will. An analogy would be the spray created on the crest of a wave. I am the spray. The world is how it’s described, change the description, change the world. To be honest, words aren’t adequate to define life, to fluid, but hey, it’s all we’ve got. Existence is one, described as many. In my humble opinion, of course.

[williamscottakasoldieroflight]

I love these Ted talks. Much love to Anil Ananthaswamy and all my brothers and sisters around the world. :)

[carlinelafaille]

This is easily one of the best presentations I’ve ever watched

[sketstropp]

I was expecting to hear something about Depersonalisation as well. It's also affecting one's sense of self. I've had it constantly for 20 years now, and it feels like I'm unreal.

[theclerisavarghese]

I watched a movie recently called Split. This talk reminded me of that.

[lmbus]

For some one who battled with depersonalisation for quite a bit, I dont get how people are not freaked out about thoughts like this ? They dont seem to get how strange and weird everything really and truely is. He is also claming to know alot about the topic, but admits mid talk that "they dont know" about the sense of self and the persitent feeling of "I". I still take the stance that "we dont know" and "all i know is nothing" really.. Cause really I was thinking about the sense of self alot the past few days and I was thinking back to my biggest schizophrenic/dissociated states and even there this sense of self ( Observer what I call it ). I was some how still aware about everything in the back of my mind, now I know thats subjective and there are many other examples where people completely black out etc. but how is it possible? I also had a lot of heavy anxiety attacks, where all I could think about was dying etc. not one single clear thought, but yet again the Observer fully intact and in Action. All you can take away from this Video really is the based opinion about life at the end. Cause after all thats all you can do. He talked about Alzheimers, also a thought that popped alot up in my head when i thought about this topic especially when it comes to Soul or no Soul. How is it possible for some mid-endstage patients to suddenly be fully present once they hear their favorite music piece ? I think getting Alzheimers might actually be one of the worst Conditions out there, which of course it is on their own, like Prion Diseases etc, but I think that even there that the observer is present. Kinda horryfing to think about, that you are actually trapped some how, but only the machine / nervous system / brain not working properly. For me this life is only bearable if there is something else after this one, id like to think that this is a really stupid learning experience and that we are trapped in this shithole until we got it ? Why ? Who cares ? Creator ? Why not. Cause everything else is really depressing and there is a reason existentialism was / is a thing. Albert Camus was a good example. "There is only one really serious philosophical problem´and that is suicide". There is also a argument to be made that there is so many weird stuff going on on this planet, been going on, so many past civilizations, who all had strong beliefs, who all even started to give us even the slightest ideas about souls/higher planes of existence. So yea.. for anyone who came here to have a fix for his existential depression, unlucky, nothing new was said. Base Reality is pretty depressing and everyone who says different is just not honest, or succesfully built a huge wall of cope around him. Cause all this guy saying, legit is : that i am currently some sort of weird meat ball, that some how is sentient, that some how is sitting in front of his computer for no other reasons than dopamine i guess? who doesnt really need to survive anymore cause he has shelter and food and i guess thats it. Didnt even make a claim about where thoughts/ideas come from, I guess hes just randomly researching all of this while living the narrative in his head that he is that guy now and nothing else. Like how do people who go on big stages and talk about something like this even live their own life ? Thats how they operate ? "Well I am living this narrative now, until lights go out i guess" lol? How is it possible that my thoughts sometimes have more weight in physical reality than everything else ? How is it possible that im thinking about certain things and they randomly happen a few days later? Im sure some of you who might read this had simular Experiences at least once in their lifes, where they been like "WTF" that did not just happen. Some of those Guys are so narrow minded, i dont want to turn this in to a schizzo rent for no reason. Id suggest some Donald Hoffman as long as hes not some one who is also talking about uncertainties too. He is getting pretty deep in to this stuff.

[angelgamaliel]

The SELF once experienced makes all illusions fall away, that’s when you realize the difference between the REAL eternal SELF and the limited/illusory ego self

[cosalidra]

Anil Seth, Anil Ananthaswamy and Sam Harris need to be together on a podcast. Please.

[bretnetherton]

Awareness is known by awareness alone.

[moonmissy]

This is a scientific take on the exact same teachings of the Buddha: that we don't have a permanent self but the self is a process that hallucinates reality.

[benzjamminz]

All time hers .. mother nature has got them, just show them love, they are still One 👥

[thesecretcouncil]

I like the idea of respawning over and over again.

[lsauce]

Today! I found a word for the thing i didn't knew what to call. "sense of self"

[artrip]

This video is so timely. I’m currently working on a self love video and this video reaffirms my beliefs of the self. Thank you so much! 💕

[Bat_Boy]

There are MANY illusions of the human mind...like, free will, ego, self, time (etc). But, we must ask...are these illusions a bad thing that needs to be addressed? How / why did humans develop them as a species? I think the answer may reveal, it was a net positive in our development.

[SofoArchon]

From the autonomy of our bodies (and minds) and the differentiation between them. Of course, the self as a separate being from the rest of the world is an illusion, for we're intrinsically connected with everything that exists.

[davegrundgeiger]

I might be misunderstanding, but he seems to be saying that if the perception of a thing breaks in some brains, then the thing itself is "constructed" and therefore an "illusion." By analogy, if a subset of people hallucinate that the stage he's on is covered with snakes, I don't think that implies that the more common perception of the stage (as not covered with snakes) is also unreal. Even if we construct our model of the stage from perceptual clues, we can still hypothesize that there is an objective stage, which most people perceive with approximate fidelity. That may turn out not to be the case, but I don't think his logic suffices to eliminate the possibility or even to cast much doubt on it. Similarly, even if some brains apparently misperceive identity, it doesn't mean that identity doesn't exist or is not fundamental.

Notwithstanding the above, I love his gentle approach to folks who have different perceptions, and his reasoned, curious inquiry into the nature of consciousness.