# Which bit of you is you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 30, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274 "2008-12-30T20:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![jessesheeran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@jessesheeran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessesheeran)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/121 "2009-01-13T06:01:00Z")
it brings up whether or not a person has the right to take their own life ---
**Author:** ![Jesse\_Leigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@Jesse\_Leigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesse_Leigh)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/122 "2009-01-17T07:46:14Z")
> [@Influential\_Panda](#): > > I strongly, strongly recommend you pick up _The Illusion of Conscious Will_ by Daniel Wegner. It gives an illuminating look at the nature of consciousness and how we experience it. Now, for my ridiculously oversimplified explanation. > > You don’t have to be conscious to perform actions. You aren’t consciously aware, for instance, of the location of your feet in space, yet your brain handles it without difficulty. You can shift your consciousness to become aware of it, certainly, but it’s not a necessary requirement for movement. > > Much like sleepwalking, which is locomotor activity without consciousness, you can hold a full conversation without being conscious of it. > > Also, the memory for this sort of event is classified as episodic memory. To consciously re-experience and retrieve these sorts of memories, you need to have been conscious of them in the first place. Greetings IP! The book you recommended arrived yesterday, and I’m only halfway through chapter one, but it’s entertaining. I’ve been spot-reading the most intriguing excerpts to my husband. He’s not as interested in the subject matter as I am, but I’m looking forward to making my way through Mr. Wegner’s book. I notice he fails to factor kinetic energy into his equations, or perhaps he’ll get to it later - I do hope so. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the heads up. (The next book I’ll be reading, God-Willing, is ‘Kinds of Minds.’ ) Have a great day! - Jesse. ---
**Author:** ![wsbenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@wsbenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsbenge)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/123 "2009-01-18T15:18:15Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I think you are unfairly discounting the entire hormone system here - adrenal glands, sexual hormones etc play a large part in making us who we are. Those just put pressure on us, to react. They are not a part of me. Booze puts pressure on me, as well, but it never forces my behavior. I still choose … poorly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wsbenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@wsbenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsbenge)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/124 "2009-01-18T15:30:58Z")
> [@Jesse\_Leigh](#): > > Fish show fear > > Still think fish aren’t conscious? For the most part, I have decided animals are biological constructs, with full sets of emotion, access to memory, etc. , running like a computer program, on instinct when necessary. They lack the essential component of self. Seriously, I am not sure if all human beings have a soul, the way they behave. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/125 "2009-01-18T16:33:01Z")
This whole conversation … I mean “thread” … reminds me of a scene from Dead Like Me (used to be on Showtime a few years back): George: So, my whole life, everything, all I get to keep are thoughts and memories? Rube: That’s all we ever have, peanut. /I miss the reapers. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/126 "2009-01-18T17:19:27Z")
> [@wsbenge](#): > > … the essential component of self … And what would you say _is_ the essential component of self? Please, no self-serving answers, such as whatever it is that we have that they do not. Or, I don’t know but I know it when I see it. ---
**Author:** ![wsbenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@wsbenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsbenge)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/127 "2009-01-18T18:28:47Z")
DSeid, The essential component. Only word I can come up with is soul, and it is hard to pin down. Some of the idea is self-serving rationalization, since if I thought fish had a soul, I could not put them in my food chain. Or cattle. It is too easy just to say animals and plant life do not have souls, because an ancient book says so. Observed behavior. Certain cultures decided wolves were a people, because of perceived culture. Existance of soul should be shown by behavior. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/128 "2009-01-18T20:23:39Z")
Hmmm. So at what point did primitive humans or protohumans have enough culture that they were endowed with souls? If I provide you with evidence of culture within whale groups or elephant societies let alone non-human primates do they also get blessed with souls that they did not have until they evolved some kind of culture? Or does culture get defined as that which we have that they do not? When does a developing human gets its soul? At conception? If the zygote then twins which one gets the soul and which gets a new one? Or do twins share a soul? How do you know that there is a soul there other than that thinking of it as not being there serves your self-rationalizations? I wonder … did slave owners believe that slaves did not have souls while they did? ---
**Author:** ![wsbenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@wsbenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsbenge)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/129 "2009-01-18T20:56:22Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > When does a developing human gets its soul? At conception? If the zygote then twins which one gets the soul and which gets a new one? Or do twins share a soul? I will go you one better. 🙂 I can’t prove to you the I, myself, have a soul. If I do not, I have nothing to lose. I live as though I do. I must say, it is a question of relative importance, to me. I have no concept of mortality, internally. I can not conceive thoughts of when I do not exist. I am curious. In my late teens, it used to be a favorite question of mine: What do you want to do, when you die? That question got shoved up by butt one day. I don’t ask, any more. In any event, I have a ticket to find out in a few years. Dead man walking, so to speak. The above zygote question is why I quit the idea abortion, except in self-defense, i.e., the mother’s life, at her discretion. As far as I can tell, the fertilized ovum is human. Whether, or not, it is ensouled, I have no idea, and must err on the side of ensoulment.k More rationalization, I suppose. One must live with one’s self. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274/130 "2009-01-18T21:34:36Z")
And here we somewhat agree! I have no belief in a God who is concerned with our affairs or the intercessionary power of prayer - but if some find it helps them then more power to them. Many do. Faith is an adaptive thing whether or not it is based in reality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bit-of-you-is-you/479274.md?page=6)