All my life, I have watched those changes carefully. I even noticed that at 7 years old or so, my thinking changed. I remember exquisitely noticing these changes in thought patterns. I noticed more obvious changes in learning how to read and thought about that a lot-how something previously inscrutable become basically impossible to not read instantly. Then I saw meaning expanding in me, saw how it changed things, how you saw the world change in the same way. And something happened along the way. Meanings began to expand and explode in everything and the world became a language. Four months ago I released a small book which is an introduction to how the universe has meaning built into it as foundational natural law. It’s introductory, so I mainly focused on the human eye-it’s actually a symbolic structure symbolizing the sun, the Earth, and a singularity-in the whites, iris, and pupil, respectively. Once you begin seeing this larger language, you can’t unsee it. What really propels all life, all learning, all reading, is meaning. What meaning is, can be discerned when you understand the human eye for the first time using meaning. ❤
Why is what you communicate so good? I’m 66 with half formulated questions I’ve lived with all my life. Even if you don’t come up with answers, articulating questions succinctly is such a boon to thinking people. Thanks
Your podcasts are not just insightful but deeply thought-provoking. I admire how precisely you articulate complex ideas, weaving them into a tapestry that feels both intellectual and conversational. One thing I wish you explored more deeply is the consistency of certain habits and traits throughout our lives-those patterns that persist, even as so much around us changes. I was three years old when my parents divorced, and I met my father for the first time when I was 28. What shocked me was how many of his traits I seemed to have inherited-despite never having known him. It was as if some aspects of who I am had been encoded and preserved, waiting to manifest. Then, there are my sleep habits, my eating preferences, and even the framework of my beliefs. I wasn't always an atheist. I grew up in a devout Muslim family in Pakistan, offering prayers and practicing my religion earnestly. Yet, even as a child, I had a persistent sense of doubt, a constant questioning of the world around me. That inclination-those seeds of skepticism-stayed with me. They didn’t sprout fully until decades later, but they were always there, quietly undermining the surface of my faith. It took me years-decades, even-to confront my own confirmatory biases and accept the conclusion that I no longer believed in God. But what’s striking is how certain foundational traits, like curiosity and skepticism, remained consistent through all that change. So, I completely agree with your idea that change is one of the few constants in life. But doesn't that raise an interesting paradox? If we have these enduring patterns-our habits, behaviors, or inner moral compass-are they what give us the illusion of a unified self? Are they the scaffolding on which we construct the narrative of "who we are," even as the details of that narrative evolve over time? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how these elements tie into our sense of identity.
I feel the songs which we loved in our childhood and teenage years are still loved by us . I am a 42 year old neurologist from India. David ur voice and diction is so soothing. Keep up the good work.
I found this particular episode very revealing, as I look back just a few years and I am nothing like that guy November 26, 2021. For better or worse it is very distinctive looking back, but the process from then to now was not revealed without the hindsight.
I'd love you to talk about alcohol withdrawal and why we fly into alternative realities that seem so real when we're coming off the booze. Are we really damaging out brains? Needs to be covered brother. Love your channel
I think there are superficial changes to identity, but when you've had moments such as Proust describes in À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu, you also realise that there is a core person there. It is that rare moment of remembering and feeling EXACTLY how you felt as an 8 year old, for example. Not the memory edited over 6 decades, but the actual original 'you' from back then. In an entire lifetime I've had this experience a handful of times. That is what Proust describes, and it is a bizarre phenomenon where there seems to be an unbroken chain of consciousness from past to present ( which is how Proust describes it ). That past self IS different, and yet you encompass it and recognise it as still very much 'you'. Gosh...I'd love to see you do a video on Proust and his ideas.
I am stopping around the 5:55 point and want to comment while this thought is still fresh in my mind. So looking up ship of Theseus I see this is a much discussed topic in philosophy of identity. It occurs to me, while listening to this video today, that an inert ship and any biological creature have some very significant differences. Our bodies self assemble and self repair. At least mostly. When parts are replaced on a ship it is done by an external agent. If we get cut the scar will remain for the rest of our lives even with the molecules and cells in our bodies being replaced. Our dental records can be used to identify us in forensics if needed. If one replaces all the parts of a ship over time it does not necessarily retain scars and other other evidence of it's history. Very significant differences between ships that at built and organisms that live. My identity does not derive from the molecules that make up my body. Sure I need to be made of molecules but it does not mater that they are replaced over time for me to retain my identity and identity is not an illusion. Memory is flawed but I retain life experience well enough to function as a member of a family and my education and work experience stay with me well enough to help shape my identity. In my 60s I still retain skills learned in my teens and early 20s. There are differences. I don't look the same and I have arthritic knees but I retain interests I have had all the way back to my elementary school days. My present has been shaped by my past and decisions I made along the way. I had my cataracts replaced with Intraocular lens (IOL) implants. This has improved my vision but does not affect my identity. I may be looking at knee replacements in the future but I don't expect that to have a significant effect on my identity. Edit Had to chuckle at 2:22. We might vote for a different political party. Well perhaps in much of the world voting for a different political party does not involve a shift in identity. Who we vote for can be affected by who is running. Why would that necessarily have anything to do with someones identity? Why would developing an interest in a new technology be akin to changing or drifting identity? I have had an interest in digital electronics and computers since my teen years. The field is ever evolving but that just keeps it interesting.It changes but my interest in it remains. By the way for a very long time I have had an interest in creating educational videos but never really had time to pursue it while I was still working and thought I would give it a go in retirement. So now I am retired and learning how to make videos using Blender. I still have an interest in computers that can be traced all the way back to when the Apollo missions were being televised. The technology has been constantly changing and I have worked at keeping up with a lot of the changes. Some of the change we experience in ourselves is a result of changing circumstance. We adapt to a changing world. It seems to me that one thing that happens as we get older is some of the external changes become a harder to adapt to. Other external changes are very welcome. With my keen interest in new digital electronic technologies I often feel like I am living in the future. I used to read Popular Electronics back in the 1970s and wondered what it would be like to have the Altair 8800. Edit 2 23:00 I expect anyone that has attempted many novel project will have learned they always take longer than one might have expected. If it is something one has not done before this is a result of not knowing the issues that may arise and having no idea how long they will take to resolve. If one knows everything that is likely to happen then it is not likely a novel project.
At 71 years young I have discovered that the wiser I feel the less people want to listen to me. I blame my 30 years old brain for thinking it is so clever!
That’s a skandhalous theory, isn’t it? 😂 (I had to fight the autocomplete the whole way to make that new funny word, like John Connor in the terminator movie, or anyone trying to be truly creative against their ego? 🤔)
There is an easy answer to this question. Life is consciousness. Our bodies, which are not conscious, are the vehicles with which to interact with our environments. We change partly because we learn from our experiences. I am not my name. I could change it legally anytime I want. I've looked at things I created 50 years ago, and most are every bit as good or better then they were then. Consciousness is everything. This is borne out by the quantum theory, which reveals that - contrary to our observations - matter as we see it does not exist. Only quantum fields exist. This has been known for over 100 years. We should never regret not saving money, because it has inflated so much that had we banked it, it would now be worth only 10% of its original value. My tastes in music have not changed in sixty years. (I am 81 years old.) I've saved 50-year-old letters and their contents agree with my memories of what was happening then. I just feel blessed to be alive.
In a complex system that allows for additions and removals, why not view every added element as becoming part of the system's identity? This way, you always remain yourself, as your identity only ever changes by an infinitesimal amount for a brief moment before the new element becomes part of your identity.
When seen through the perspective of instruments used or oarts used no i am not the same person But when seen from the purpose served then yes i am the same person
Do we get tired of life and are antidepressants harming our brains. I take Mirtazipine and sometimes i get scared of the going to sleep faces that enter my vision. Not very nice. Also weight gain. I'd rather live without then but i just crash mentally. Life is cruel.
1. Go out for a run/swim 2. realize that your body's health is way worse than your mind's health 3. keep repeating the exhausting exercise as often as possible 4. your mind tells you "I don't need those weird meds any longer!" 5. keep running just for the pleasure of being alive 🏃 6. stay w(h)ealthy 🙏
Because the 30 trillion cells are "flying in formation" and all commit to implementing the optimal self that they themselves contribute to calculating.
Was hoping you'd cover this at some point, as it is a very fascinating area of study (well, everything is) - looking forward to the conversation with Levin as well. His work is vastly intriguing - from the T.A.M.E framework he's working on, cognitive light cones, or otherwise in the bioelectricity areas, his work is a good read to start to understand different types of minds, perspectives, including those augmented via sensory modifications or otherwise technological augments. (and other types of minds beyond even that, from cells to AI to more) If memories could be agential, why not ideas, concepts? What about beleifs, traditions, and more - should we consider those similar to how Dawkins did, but from a biological basis? How might we, or which ones of those could be, perceived differently via sensory expansion, addition technology, threading in qualia and experience of quantized elements of those ideas, to perceive them more directly or from new angles, perspectives? The future version of myself couldn't even be predicted by my current self, if doing things right, even in terms of cognitive capabilities or perceptions, perspectives. To remain the same, is to stagnate, fail to reach out and explore, question ourselves and reality in new interesting ways. Although Buddhism and some philosophies have different views of "self" anyways :)
When i was 16 i took about 500 mushrooms that me and my girlfriend were to share. I wasn't feeling anything so i keep eating them and met god. I actually put my hand to his I've never been the same after that experience. It's affecting my whole life. I was physically shaking when coming down off that trip. I had kept some behind for us to share and that was a lovely experience. I felt so connected to her. Unfortunately things didn't work out but at the time we felt so connected to each other. I could smell strawberry 🍓 with her. I understand why the Beatles wrote Strawberry field forever.
Yes our cells change yet our DNA and cell memory exchange is far different to the boat analogy ,it’s interesting with parcels but seriously flawed ,surely the Prof knows that
He didn't talk about DNA. He talked about all our cells being replaced, which they are. In the planks analogy they would have tried to match the previous plank.
We are a process … like Everything. ❤
All my life, I have watched those changes carefully. I even noticed that at 7 years old or so, my thinking changed. I remember exquisitely noticing these changes in thought patterns. I noticed more obvious changes in learning how to read and thought about that a lot-how something previously inscrutable become basically impossible to not read instantly. Then I saw meaning expanding in me, saw how it changed things, how you saw the world change in the same way. And something happened along the way. Meanings began to expand and explode in everything and the world became a language.
Four months ago I released a small book which is an introduction to how the universe has meaning built into it as foundational natural law. It’s introductory, so I mainly focused on the human eye-it’s actually a symbolic structure symbolizing the sun, the Earth, and a singularity-in the whites, iris, and pupil, respectively. Once you begin seeing this larger language, you can’t unsee it. What really propels all life, all learning, all reading, is meaning. What meaning is, can be discerned when you understand the human eye for the first time using meaning. ❤
Why is what you communicate so good?
I’m 66 with half formulated questions I’ve lived with all my life.
Even if you don’t come up with answers, articulating questions succinctly is such a boon to thinking people.
Thanks
He's very clever. He's a literal brain surgeon.
It's amazing in the midst of chaos we have the illusion of order and anything at all works or has coherence
Bob Seger said it best: I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.
Your podcasts are not just insightful but deeply thought-provoking. I admire how precisely you articulate complex ideas, weaving them into a tapestry that feels both intellectual and conversational. One thing I wish you explored more deeply is the consistency of certain habits and traits throughout our lives-those patterns that persist, even as so much around us changes.
I was three years old when my parents divorced, and I met my father for the first time when I was 28. What shocked me was how many of his traits I seemed to have inherited-despite never having known him. It was as if some aspects of who I am had been encoded and preserved, waiting to manifest. Then, there are my sleep habits, my eating preferences, and even the framework of my beliefs.
I wasn't always an atheist. I grew up in a devout Muslim family in Pakistan, offering prayers and practicing my religion earnestly. Yet, even as a child, I had a persistent sense of doubt, a constant questioning of the world around me. That inclination-those seeds of skepticism-stayed with me. They didn’t sprout fully until decades later, but they were always there, quietly undermining the surface of my faith.
It took me years-decades, even-to confront my own confirmatory biases and accept the conclusion that I no longer believed in God. But what’s striking is how certain foundational traits, like curiosity and skepticism, remained consistent through all that change.
So, I completely agree with your idea that change is one of the few constants in life. But doesn't that raise an interesting paradox? If we have these enduring patterns-our habits, behaviors, or inner moral compass-are they what give us the illusion of a unified self? Are they the scaffolding on which we construct the narrative of "who we are," even as the details of that narrative evolve over time? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how these elements tie into our sense of identity.
I feel the songs which we loved in our childhood and teenage years are still loved by us .
I am a 42 year old neurologist from India.
David ur voice and diction is so soothing.
Keep up the good work.
Your channel is so beautiful and knowledgeable love from India ❤❤❤❤
One thing that never changes is the sports team we root for !!!
I found this particular episode very revealing, as I look back just a few years and I am nothing like that guy November 26, 2021. For better or worse it is very distinctive looking back, but the process from then to now was not revealed without the hindsight.
Excellently put
Great video. Thank you for these free videos 😊❤
I'd love you to talk about alcohol withdrawal and why we fly into alternative realities that seem so real when we're coming off the booze. Are we really damaging out brains? Needs to be covered brother. Love your channel
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!
I think there are superficial changes to identity, but when you've had moments such as Proust describes in À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu, you also realise that there is a core person there. It is that rare moment of remembering and feeling EXACTLY how you felt as an 8 year old, for example. Not the memory edited over 6 decades, but the actual original 'you' from back then. In an entire lifetime I've had this experience a handful of times. That is what Proust describes, and it is a bizarre phenomenon where there seems to be an unbroken chain of consciousness from past to present ( which is how Proust describes it ). That past self IS different, and yet you encompass it and recognise it as still very much 'you'. Gosh...I'd love to see you do a video on Proust and his ideas.
Brilliant topic !! ❤🎉
I am stopping around the 5:55 point and want to comment while this thought is still fresh in my mind. So looking up ship of Theseus I see this is a much discussed topic in philosophy of identity. It occurs to me, while listening to this video today, that an inert ship and any biological creature have some very significant differences. Our bodies self assemble and self repair. At least mostly. When parts are replaced on a ship it is done by an external agent. If we get cut the scar will remain for the rest of our lives even with the molecules and cells in our bodies being replaced. Our dental records can be used to identify us in forensics if needed. If one replaces all the parts of a ship over time it does not necessarily retain scars and other other evidence of it's history. Very significant differences between ships that at built and organisms that live.
My identity does not derive from the molecules that make up my body. Sure I need to be made of molecules but it does not mater that they are replaced over time for me to retain my identity and identity is not an illusion. Memory is flawed but I retain life experience well enough to function as a member of a family and my education and work experience stay with me well enough to help shape my identity. In my 60s I still retain skills learned in my teens and early 20s. There are differences. I don't look the same and I have arthritic knees but I retain interests I have had all the way back to my elementary school days. My present has been shaped by my past and decisions I made along the way.
I had my cataracts replaced with Intraocular lens (IOL) implants. This has improved my vision but does not affect my identity. I may be looking at knee replacements in the future but I don't expect that to have a significant effect on my identity.
Edit
Had to chuckle at 2:22. We might vote for a different political party. Well perhaps in much of the world voting for a different political party does not involve a shift in identity. Who we vote for can be affected by who is running. Why would that necessarily have anything to do with someones identity?
Why would developing an interest in a new technology be akin to changing or drifting identity? I have had an interest in digital electronics and computers since my teen years. The field is ever evolving but that just keeps it interesting.It changes but my interest in it remains. By the way for a very long time I have had an interest in creating educational videos but never really had time to pursue it while I was still working and thought I would give it a go in retirement. So now I am retired and learning how to make videos using Blender. I still have an interest in computers that can be traced all the way back to when the Apollo missions were being televised. The technology has been constantly changing and I have worked at keeping up with a lot of the changes.
Some of the change we experience in ourselves is a result of changing circumstance. We adapt to a changing world. It seems to me that one thing that happens as we get older is some of the external changes become a harder to adapt to. Other external changes are very welcome. With my keen interest in new digital electronic technologies I often feel like I am living in the future. I used to read Popular Electronics back in the 1970s and wondered what it would be like to have the Altair 8800.
Edit 2
23:00 I expect anyone that has attempted many novel project will have learned they always take longer than one might have expected. If it is something one has not done before this is a result of not knowing the issues that may arise and having no idea how long they will take to resolve. If one knows everything that is likely to happen then it is not likely a novel project.
At 71 years young I have discovered that the wiser I feel the less people want to listen to me. I blame my 30 years old brain for thinking it is so clever!
Judging by this comment of yours, their reaction towards you is completely justified.
Vero interesting and beautiful
❤️❤️❤️
Beautiful illustrations (but always check on the number of fingers the AI generates: 27:29 😊)!
This question is central to Buddhism, its answer is to be found in the '5 skandhas' theory.
It's not really a question, it has a conclusion that it will all dissolve.
That’s a skandhalous theory, isn’t it? 😂 (I had to fight the autocomplete the whole way to make that new funny word, like John Connor in the terminator movie, or anyone trying to be truly creative against their ego? 🤔)
There is an easy answer to this question. Life is consciousness. Our bodies, which are not conscious, are the vehicles with which to interact with our environments. We change partly because we learn from our experiences. I am not my name. I could change it legally anytime I want. I've looked at things I created 50 years ago, and most are every bit as good or better then they were then. Consciousness is everything. This is borne out by the quantum theory, which reveals that - contrary to our observations - matter as we see it does not exist. Only quantum fields exist. This has been known for over 100 years. We should never regret not saving money, because it has inflated so much that had we banked it, it would now be worth only 10% of its original value. My tastes in music have not changed in sixty years. (I am 81 years old.) I've saved 50-year-old letters and their contents agree with my memories of what was happening then. I just feel blessed to be alive.
Your inner spiritual self is aware of itself, not the bunch of cells, dah!
Musical pieces may change, but preferred rhythm does not. Our consciousness signature is tuned to a specific frequency.
In a complex system that allows for additions and removals, why not view every added element as becoming part of the system's identity? This way, you always remain yourself, as your identity only ever changes by an infinitesimal amount for a brief moment before the new element becomes part of your identity.
Is the present a result of the past, i.e., cause and effect? If so, I am a product of what I was yesterday + my environment, no?
When seen through the perspective of instruments used or oarts used no i am not the same person
But when seen from the purpose served then yes i am the same person
I am immune to it, but still owning outstanding elasticity
What I have known for a while. I’m a work in progress!
If you conclude that you are not the person you were at some time in the past, then you have the wrong idea of what a self actually is.
Do we get tired of life and are antidepressants harming our brains. I take Mirtazipine and sometimes i get scared of the going to sleep faces that enter my vision. Not very nice. Also weight gain. I'd rather live without then but i just crash mentally. Life is cruel.
Yes it is. Please speak with your doctor. You may need different meds
1. Go out for a run/swim
2. realize that your body's health is way worse than your mind's health
3. keep repeating the exhausting exercise as often as possible
4. your mind tells you "I don't need those weird meds any longer!"
5. keep running just for the pleasure of being alive 🏃
6. stay w(h)ealthy 🙏
I used to be me, but my recollection changed??!!!
Because the 30 trillion cells are "flying in formation" and all commit to implementing the optimal self that they themselves contribute to calculating.
Was hoping you'd cover this at some point, as it is a very fascinating area of study (well, everything is) - looking forward to the conversation with Levin as well.
His work is vastly intriguing - from the T.A.M.E framework he's working on, cognitive light cones, or otherwise in the bioelectricity areas, his work is a good read to start to understand different types of minds, perspectives, including those augmented via sensory modifications or otherwise technological augments. (and other types of minds beyond even that, from cells to AI to more)
If memories could be agential, why not ideas, concepts?
What about beleifs, traditions, and more - should we consider those similar to how Dawkins did, but from a biological basis?
How might we, or which ones of those could be, perceived differently via sensory expansion, addition technology, threading in qualia and experience of quantized elements of those ideas, to perceive them more directly or from new angles, perspectives?
The future version of myself couldn't even be predicted by my current self, if doing things right, even in terms of cognitive capabilities or perceptions, perspectives. To remain the same, is to stagnate, fail to reach out and explore, question ourselves and reality in new interesting ways.
Although Buddhism and some philosophies have different views of "self" anyways :)
You will be 25 years of age in the afterlife, which is the age your body is most perfect.
✨🤍✨
When i was 16 i took about 500 mushrooms that me and my girlfriend were to share. I wasn't feeling anything so i keep eating them and met god. I actually put my hand to his I've never been the same after that experience. It's affecting my whole life. I was physically shaking when coming down off that trip. I had kept some behind for us to share and that was a lovely experience. I felt so connected to her. Unfortunately things didn't work out but at the time we felt so connected to each other. I could smell strawberry 🍓 with her. I understand why the Beatles wrote Strawberry field forever.
😂
@JoshRyanWood life is a rollercoaster
Reincarnation confirmed
Yes our cells change yet our DNA and cell memory exchange is far different to the boat analogy ,it’s interesting with parcels but seriously flawed ,surely the Prof knows that
He didn't talk about DNA. He talked about all our cells being replaced, which they are. In the planks analogy they would have tried to match the previous plank.
Sounds like Deepak Chopra 😬