Identity: Is it Your Personality or Your Body?

That's an interesting question, and one that can have multiple answers. I think first we need to define self. According to the facts, hard science, and biology, my body is made up of particles that only belong to me. In fact, our bodies know if something is not a part of us, which is why blood transfusions are tricky. If you get the wrong type, your body will reject it. My personality, all my thoughts, dreams, emotions, my entire conscious is the product of the flow and reactions of different chemicals and hormones in my brain. The way I think is shaped by the physical connections in my brain. An interesting fact: The average human brain makes 1 million new neuron connections every second of our life. There are over 100 trillion neurons in your brain, and each can have more than 2000 connections to other neurons. That's 10^2010 connections on average. So, the unique way the neurons in my brain have connected along with the flow and reactions of chemicals within it determine everything I think and feel.

What does it mean? Again I'll put off spirituality and say that it means nothing. In fact, all my thoughts are just reactions from chemicals which, when you get right down to it, are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons arranged in a certain way. So is every atom of my body. So is every atom of yours. The earth, the sun, cats, dogs, far off planets and comets are all made of the same three things. But you can even go further. One of the leading subatomic theories, string theory, says that protons, neutrons and electrons are made up of even smaller "strings" of energy that vibrate at different frequencies. How they vibrate determines if they form a proton, neutron or electron, or if they take the form of energy. In either scenario, we are all made up of the exact same thing, so there really is no difference between me and you except for arrangement. It's both depressing and interesting, I think. But, just because the only difference is arrangement doesn't mean we're not unique. with 10^2010 neural connections on average, along with all the atoms in your body and all the ways that your body and brain change and grow throughout your life, there is a practically infinite number of different possibilities, enough for practically infinite unique human beings.

Anyway, this question begs for a spiritual answer. Sure, we know what causes us to feel and to think, but religion likes to impose the idea of a soul that continues on after death. If this is the case, whatever defines that soul is what defines us. Obviously, if we have a soul and there is some sort of afterlife, we can't see it or know it, so the point is somewhat moot.

TL:DR We're all made up of the same things, just arranged differently.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/e2h5UD7dOV0/viewtopic.php

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