It seems to me that for you to know this, you would somehow have to experience what it is like to not be you. The story of triplets who were unwitting subjects in a research study ... We give up collecting data more quickly when information fits what we ... A famous result in psychology says that people fail to intervene when ... People are more likely to hand in found wallets if they contain more m... Three Identical Strangers: Was the twin separation study ethical? Sadly, we have no idea TO THE LEAST what thoughts are, where do they come from and go when they leave us behind(if they ever do).We barely know what the outcome of thinking is, although we do know some of the effects. The ego is born out of the illusion that we think that if we work out of self-interest, we will benefit. At this stage we can consider that all human activity is based really on nothing else but thoughts, a small part of thinking falls under rationality/logic/explanations. I think they failed to appreciate that the self-illusion explains so many aspects of human behavior as well as our attitudes toward others. I believe this is somewhat akin to your position. Your next paragraph(?) Second, as the philosopher Gilbert Ryle pointed out, in searching for the self, one cannot simultaneously be the hunter and the hunted, and I think that is a dualistic problem if we think we can objectively examine our own minds independently because our mind and self are both generated by the brain. You admit that, "Most of us have an experience of a self. Similar ideas about the self can be found in Buddhism and the writings of Hume and Spinoza. The Self can be an illusion, but it's useful. In some contemporary spiritual teachings, there is a belief that the self is illusory. I purchased my paperback copy from Amazon in 2016, and I continually go back to it to learn, to implant what is being said firmly into my mind. Just because we have not found an organ for them does not mean they do not exist. Illusions are experiences in the mind, but they are not out there in nature. I don't see anywhere at all that you challenged any of my arguments. I must confess that I have a bit of trouble understanding a few of the points you're trying to make. If I were your student, sir, I would demand reimbursement for the cost of your classes... as you couldn't teach anything because it was _true_, but only because your predetermined course forced you to do so! True Self/Separate Self. If I made the statement that one could rule the world with nothing but an ancient TI Sinclair, it wouldn't take a credentialed computer scientist to refute that statement. Psychologist Bruce Hood explores how the brain creates the illusion of the self. To whom or to what is the the self illusion an illusion to? There is conscious awareness of the present moment that he called the “I,” but there is also a self that reflects upon who we are in terms of our history, our current activities, and our future plans. How can you have a question without a questioner? Our memories are also largely abstracted reinterpretations of events — we all hold distorted memories of past experiences. Sign up to read our regular email newsletters, Our brains create our own version of reality to help us make sense of things. And our knowledge of the self is similar to our knowledge of, say, an apple. What role do you think childhood plays in shaping the self? This "analysis" is to psychological science what alchemy is to chemistry. Perhaps if we educated -- rather than trained -- our grad students (and the "academics" into which they devolve) their musings on things of which they know so little (but are so self- [oops!] The Self Illusion is about the science of self-the truth behind the illusion that we all share, that we exist as individuals inside our bodies and are in control of our own thoughts and behaviours. Rather, they are events generated by the brain. You can't have free will only when you evaluate the evidence that supports a lack of free will--that's the worst form of special pleading! I certainly have one, and I do not doubt that others do as well — an autonomous individual with a coherent identity and sense of free will. I wanted to hear more about why there is logical "incoherence" for compatabilistic theory where self, free will can co-exist with certain deterministic qualities in nature. In this episode, we challenge the sense of self that we all feel from the first-person subjective experience. In a similar fashion, we can feel our hunger and our desire to have an apple. Your response to me was already written 1 million years ago, and any response you have to this new post won't be a carefully considered opinion, but just the results of atoms banging around in your brain as the result of the stimulus provided by my words. Our grasping to the perception of a “self” as a separate entity leads to an increasing feeling of vulnerability and insecurity.