From: Heartland (mindinstance@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Mar 17 2008 - 10:01:45 MDT
> On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 5:06 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp@gmail.com> wrote:
>> To put it differently, being able to have future experiences is one of my most
>> important goals, and
>> pursuit of that goal involves concepts of personal identity and
>> subjective anticipation. I agree that people who maintain the old
>> views will die out when evolution favours the objective view, but what
>> can I do? It's the way my mind works.
Jeff L Jones:
> I agree that for many people, including me, "being able to enjoy
> future experiences" seems important at an emotional level. But I
> think that the only reason it seems so important is because of a
> particular illusion that humans have, which is very common... and even
> I admit to falling for it most of the time. This is the illusion that
> there is a clear difference between "self" and "environment".... or
> said another way, that there even *is* such a thing as the self. I
> know it sounds like I'm getting kind of "zen" here, but I really think
> that this is something that will ultimately turn out to be false. I
> just don't think there is any real meaning to "personal identity",
> besides the utility you attach to being able to control future events.
Please explain what you mean by "self" and why it's an illusion. It seems like
you're giving up on future experiences because future experiences can only be
enjoyed by self that, IYO, doesn't exist.
Slawek
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