The Self

You inside the brain

When we look at the course of evolution, wherein we have been promoted from biological machines to self-aware beings, capable of observing and dissecting the patterns of our own existence, it would almost seem as if this was the plan all along. While evolution has no goal in itself, the idea that we have been made self-aware to come to a point where we are now able to understand the true nature of what we are seems rather compelling and inspiring.

It would then follow that, considering our ingrained biological drive to understand ourselves, we would be naturally eager to make sense of and moreover adopt any new relevant scientific understanding of what we are.

The reality, however, seems to be strikingly different. Far from being a moment of jubilation, most people’s reaction upon hearing or reading about the notion that we are an ever-changing feedback loop of experience is one of apathy and absent-mindedness. They can often logically acknowledge the significance and scientific accuracy of what they’ve just discovered but still find themselves in a state of placid confusion, often wondering if this understanding is supposed to make them fundamentally rethink who they think they are or if it is just a particularly interesting insight that does not necessarily call for a change of paradigm.