Who am I, where am I?
Can pieces of metal fly? No. But if they are connected in order to form a Airplane, yes, they can fly. This property does not belong to these pieces, but to the plane they are made of. An iron bar cannot imprison a tiger, but if the iron bars are in the form of a cage, it is the property of this cage to imprison. When the components are combined to form a new thing, it has more and different properties than those components.
If you are tasked with designing a road system and you want to understand the traffic, where the traffic jams are, where the dangerous turns are, where people are driving too fast, it won’t take long for you to find out. That for this we have to understand the psychology of the drivers. If you want to think of this traffic jam as an engine spark plug or the length of a screw, you will soon be out of a job. This is the wrong level of understanding traffic jams.
That doesn’t mean the little pieces don’t matter. Changing the spark plug or screw will cause the engine to run differently. The vehicle may go faster or slower, may collide but the result is clear. The flow of traffic may depend on the components, but it is not understood, cannot be understood, with the help of these components.
You’ve been laughing at your favorite comedian’s jokes on TV and now you want to understand what’s so funny about it. For this, if you study the capacitor or transistor on the TV, then you can understand the details of these parts and the electronics too, but not the world. These transistors and other components were completely dependent on bringing this world to you, but none of these parts produce humor. When all these are combined in one order, then it makes a difference.
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The same is the case of understanding the human being. One cannot think without neurons, but neurons do not think. Whatever it is, it’s in that order. The mind does not break the laws of physics, but the equations of biochemical reactions do not define the human being. Strolling along the canal is a newlywed couple in love, a loving couple. It cannot be defined by hormones or moving particles.
Human biology cannot also be understood in terms of chemistry or physics. Reward, desires, hunger, friendship, trust, competition, pride. This is the correct level of human understanding. Just like the proper level of understanding traffic flow is speed limit, rush hour, office hours etc.
Similarly, a mother worried about the child’s late return is just a compassionate worried mother. All the ingredients were essential to his concern, from hormones to the perception of time or the function of memory, even knowing fully that concern would be as much in them as a transistor.
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Apart from this, there is another problem that man is not “just mind”. The brain itself is a player in this biological game. It interacts bidirectionally with the endocrine and immune systems. It can be considered as a “large nervous system”. This large nervous system itself is inseparable from the chemical environment that influences its development. Lead paint, environmental pollution, diet etc.
All of this is constantly changing the system and is itself a component of a complex social network. Each interaction with this network makes a difference to its biology. I am shaped by my genes, my mind, my environment, my ingredients, my training and my culture. I am a reflection of all of them. Along with this biology, this chemical environment, my parents, teachers, friends, enemies, culture are all in this mirror somewhere.
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But where does it come from my culture, my environment, my training etc.? If you have read the text and are reacting to it in any way, your biology has changed. In the form of a connection made in the brain or in the form of a change in the balance of hormones.
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For example, reading these words may trigger a rush of epinephrine and corticosteroids and you may make a provocative comment or head to the inbox, but somehow these words are making a difference to your biology. You are changing. I am a part of the environment that shapes your biology. Every action of my biology affects the biology of people in my social network. This relationship is not one-sided.
Every person who is affected by the culture also creates the culture. Every word you say, every action you do, makes a difference to the people around you, has meaning. I exist in the reflection of my social network, friends and enemies. Just like we are all mirror image of each other.
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Where are the borders in this? This is an interesting question. Where do I begin and where do I end? The only solution is to consider the mind as the part where the “I” is most. The top of the mountain, not the whole mountain. My own behavior depends on this whole sociobiological system. The mind is not the seat of the mind, it is its hub.
So to recap where I am. Answering this question, it is very easy to take the wrong direction and fall into its trap or narrow alley. When you see the phrase “you are your brain” written in shorthand, don’t assume that a galaxy of atoms and a forest of neurons will answer it.
The real thing is the patterns of activity forming over this wet organ. Both those formed by internal mechanisms and those resulting from interactions with the external world. We are currently exploring the link between this physical substance and the resulting subjective experience in laboratories around the world. This is not a solved problem yet.
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My joys, pains, hopes, disappointments, love, hate, jealousy, sympathy, shame, sadness, curiosity, confidence, peace, regret, hope and anger. This is the right level of understanding for me. Why am I like this? To know the answer, from genetics to mother’s advice, from cultural values to the cup of tea in the morning, the whole world will be found, from which I am not separated at all.
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