Science & Technology

Where Does Your Sense of Self Come From? A Scientific Look | Anil Ananthaswamy | TED

Our memories and bodies give us clues about who we are, but what happens when this guidance shifts? In this mind-bending talk, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy shares how the experiences of “altered selves” — resulting from schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, foreign limb syndrome or other conditions — shed light on the constructed nature of identity. He breaks…

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Our memories and bodies give us clues about who we are, but what happens when this guidance shifts? In this mind-bending talk, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy shares how the experiences of “altered selves” — resulting from schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, foreign limb syndrome or other conditions — shed light on the constructed nature of identity. He breaks down where our sense of self comes from and invites us to challenge our assumptions about who we are, with the aim of building a better you and a better world.

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68 Comments

  1. rosimeire morais

    January 23, 2023 at 1:21 pm

    Tem tradutor?

  2. rosimeire morais

    January 23, 2023 at 1:22 pm

    Como traduzir a palestra deles?

  3. Marcus Eli Ravage

    January 23, 2023 at 1:40 pm

    *Inhale
    The sweet smell of propaganda deconstructing my perception of reality and my identity. I am now ready to be absorbed and submit to my technocapitalist powerstructure.

    • Mr. C

      January 23, 2023 at 3:28 pm

      Invest in the major pharmaceutical companies. May as well profit from our insanity…😊

    • Wabanaki [Dawnland People] Mi'kmaw Indian Shaman

      January 23, 2023 at 3:40 pm

      Literally, the opposite could be true if you insist on making this political. He’s claiming “I” is an illusion” where “we” is the reality. Capitalism promotes selfishness and individual wealth. If he WERE attempting to make a political statement, which he’s not, then he would actually be promoting communism, since reality, that he’s claiming is that we’re actually all united and one, so therefore capitalism is against reality.

      This isn’t of course what he’s claiming. He’s made no claim whatsoever should be “done” if anything, it could be proved that individualism is simply an illusion, he’s simply suggesting that is is. In which case, capitalism makes no logical sense.

    • Wabanaki [Dawnland People] Mi'kmaw Indian Shaman

      January 23, 2023 at 3:46 pm

      @Mr. C Do you guys even listen? How did you get anything like this from anything he said?

    • Marcus Eli Ravage

      January 24, 2023 at 12:17 am

      ​@Wabanaki [Dawnland People] Mi’kmaw Indian Shaman
      What I generally meant was that people internalizing the “self illusion” can be colonized by technocratic money interests with ease. The current “I” sense of identity is a pretty stable form of it for nearly all humans that doesnt really need to be muddied. Modern deconstruction likes to invalidate deeply held beliefs by overemphasizing the exceptions to challenge ideas intuitively held by most, this disruption is hardly ever really invited (unless its in the form of a fancy Ted talk, then its a luxury idea.)

      A person whose internalized a dissolved or distorted sense of self will not be grounded in a way to defend oneself from the external subversions. When one becomes rootless in identity, they become atomized and weak to forces that manufacture consent (in an environment dominated by technology.) One issue is that the people with big money/influence are not the ones internalizing the idea of “the self illusion” themselves, its the underlings they hope to exploit this idea. Ted talks as a platform like to take advantage of the curiosity of open minded people.
      The reoccurring proposition of “the self illusion” is a particularly dangerous phenomenon imo. We’ve seen how tech like social media has been able to intentionally distort how a person sees themselves as a precedent.

    • Wabanaki [Dawnland People] Mi'kmaw Indian Shaman

      January 24, 2023 at 12:44 am

      @Marcus Eli Ravage Your explaining the settler colonial’s or “the west” as they call it, so called “democracy” where your choices are to think either “left” or “right” collective, without individual thought.
      That’s not the fear of ending capitalism that you initially expressed. Individualism is GREAT for capitalism where it’s all about “me, me” me.”

      Your current concern now is already being played out with fake “democracy” where people are tricked into thinking they, the “little people” have a say.

      I hear literally 0% of anything from this talk conflicting with nor upsetting the current state of political affairs, at least the ones I’m familiar with, in the US and Canada.

      I believe you are perceiving a threat that’s simply not real.

      I’ll go one step further, like first stated and that if anything, this would disrupt the thought of capitalism, where they; “the people with big money/influence” would not want people exploring the idea that in reality we’re all connected as one. That’s not a beneficial mindset when their goal is to create as many people as they can with the mentality, of “keeping up with the Jones’s.”

      Not that I see this a deliberate act of this talk, but if there were one, I would see only the direct opposite you do.

      I believe this truly is simply for thought and to explore ones mind, with no political, ulterior motive intended. Not EVERYTHING is about politics.

  4. The Real Sapient Jester

    January 23, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    It is malleable, we are play doh 🥂

  5. The Real Sapient Jester

    January 23, 2023 at 1:45 pm

    All time hers .. mother nature has got them, just show them love, they are still One 👥

  6. The Real Sapient Jester

    January 23, 2023 at 1:51 pm

    Eye identify as ” it’s / theirs “

    • NPC #76

      January 23, 2023 at 2:00 pm

      🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

    • Mr. C

      January 23, 2023 at 3:20 pm

      That’s awesome!🎉

  7. The Real Sapient Jester

    January 23, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    The I will not remain yet what the eye has taken will always be

    • Mr. C

      January 23, 2023 at 3:34 pm

      On a fortune cookie?

  8. The Real Sapient Jester

    January 23, 2023 at 1:53 pm

    Fax, bless them for they are Eye as well ⛲

  9. The Real Sapient Jester

    January 23, 2023 at 1:55 pm

    Thank you, you bring tears to my reality. We are here now as One. It is wonderful to marvel at 🔮

    • NPC #76

      January 23, 2023 at 1:59 pm

      We are not fungus

    • Rajbir Modak

      January 23, 2023 at 2:54 pm

      You got Multiple Personallity and they came together to watch this vid great 😀

  10. John Blue: Snake & Turtle Qigong

    January 23, 2023 at 2:24 pm

    Thanks so much

  11. Zachary Sielck

    January 23, 2023 at 2:35 pm

    This type of reasoning is the first step to genocide. Group think can be just as dangerous as it can be helpful. Free thinkers & criticality is necessary.

  12. Rick Lambert

    January 23, 2023 at 2:45 pm

    Libet experiment is known as the experiment that puts free will into question. There are many subsequent experiments like this that demonstrate consciousness is nonlocal.

  13. Tanguy Delooz

    January 23, 2023 at 2:56 pm

    He doesn’t demonstrate at all that the “sense of ownership” and “sense of agency” is a “construction”. He just says that if it doesn’t work properly then he thinks it must be a construction. Quick conclusion.

    So the question is, do souls exist. Idk, what if schizophrenia is multiple souls fighting for one body. What if the sense of ownership comes with a soul getting access to the nerves of all the body. My guess is it’s still impossible to know.

    • Mr. C

      January 23, 2023 at 3:18 pm

      Lots of “what ifs”…..that’s why our species is destructive on many levels. We’re all nucking futs.

    • Tanguy Delooz

      January 23, 2023 at 7:21 pm

      @Mr. C “what if” is just a way of expressing a doubt. I don’t thing having doubt is destructive. However being sure of something that could be false, that can be desctructive imho.

  14. aakla

    January 23, 2023 at 3:30 pm

    Infinite number of universes, one soul. Every possibility happening at the same time is consciousness.

  15. Oikku Oek

    January 23, 2023 at 4:27 pm

    My dog learned to recognize himself from a mirror, after I thought him the image was a reflection of him, and not another dog. Nowadays he always checks himself from a mirror when we go out, and grooms if he sees necessary.

    • straydogontheroad

      January 23, 2023 at 6:02 pm

      What method worked to teach him?

    • Oikku Oek

      January 23, 2023 at 6:38 pm

      @straydogontheroad He saw me speaking from the mirror, and heard my voice coming from behind him. Also the bit that I wasn’t giving any fear vibes helped too. At one early lesson I tricked him to believe there was “a different world” behind the glass. When realized he was tricked, he got a bit pissed of me, but learned a lesson. He has also taken the piss back at me since, once he took the treat after a well performed trick, and went on and dropped it into my shoe while going back to bed, reason being the treat wasn’t good enough.

  16. Dave Grundgeiger

    January 23, 2023 at 4:55 pm

    I might be misunderstanding, but he seems to be saying that if the perception of a thing breaks in some brains, then the thing itself is “constructed” and therefore an “illusion.” By analogy, if a subset of people hallucinate that the stage he’s on is covered with snakes, I don’t think that implies that the more common perception of the stage (as not covered with snakes) is also unreal. Even if we construct our model of the stage from perceptual clues, we can still hypothesize that there is an objective stage, which most people perceive with approximate fidelity. That may turn out not to be the case, but I don’t think his logic suffices to eliminate the possibility or even to cast much doubt on it. Similarly, even if some brains apparently misperceive identity, it doesn’t mean that identity doesn’t exist or is not fundamental.

    Notwithstanding the above, I love his gentle approach to folks who have different perceptions, and his reasoned, curious inquiry into the nature of consciousness.

    • Dave Grundgeiger

      January 23, 2023 at 5:01 pm

      Maybe he’s only making the lesser assertion, that just because we perceive something — even if it’s compelling and most of us agree on it — it still may not be true.

    • Eziek Kiel

      January 24, 2023 at 5:43 pm

      Sort of. Nothingness is not something we can describe accurately or perceive so we have to think about it philosophically. What he is trying to say is that we, within our sense of “self” are the only thing we have to know if anything is real. So if we were to say, die, we wouldn’t be real anymore. So for you the object no longer exists because you are not there to perceive it or ever be aware of it’s existence.

    • Eziek Kiel

      January 24, 2023 at 5:49 pm

      You keep saying WE can do this, WE can hypothesize that. We can only discuss things because we are here and alive to discuss them. If you don’t exist and nothing is real, who is We? This is called death… Think back to before you were born. You can’t. There was simply nothing. It’s not even something we can describe. Before you were born you weren’t around to know anything existed. So how could then have anything possibly existed? Where’s the reality? The unborn are infinite. The universe is infinite. We only get one chance to experience it in the bodies we are given. Don’t waste it. Because death is weird.

  17. 1goldinga

    January 23, 2023 at 5:19 pm

    Schizophrenia personalities allways push the person to do negative things either outright or through small actions. It is not random. We use to speak of these entities regularly in the past but if you even mention demons now people laugh at you and call you crazy while they pop their depression medications that don’t work. Your self comes from your spirit. Once you have done something to open the door to your spirit that’s when you get demons. Usually some tragic or horrific accident or event that breaks the person. We have seen the spark of life at the moment of conception, we have weighed the body at the time of death and we have video evidence of something leaving the body with our last breath. Science cannot explain the spirit. They should figure out where our thoughts originate from. Now how we think about it but why. Where do our thoughts come from? Get in a Faraday cage and get back InTouch with yourself. Don’t meditate on nothing. Speak to yourself and reflect. The answers that come to you will surprise yourself. It’s hard to do with all the EMR floating around though.

  18. Bruce Felter

    January 23, 2023 at 6:56 pm

    Outstanding presentation! Thank you!

  19. Larry

    January 23, 2023 at 7:28 pm

    I think that “self” evolved from our animal ancestors into a more complex phenomenon in humans. Knowing that your toe is not food is important. Conscious self is our nervous system continuously seeking equilibrium.

    • Play girl

      January 25, 2023 at 7:15 am

      Okay, but your friends whole body is food , if you get stranded in the middle of nowhere for 90 of days, and he/she dies from poor nutrition or from the predator instinct in you, when awakened, when the hunger becomes unbearable.

  20. TheRamRodder

    January 23, 2023 at 7:47 pm

    I can’t speak for anyone else’s version of themselves, but I can say this…Most often, reality is simply the most socially agreed upon hallucination

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      January 23, 2023 at 7:51 pm

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  22. Amin Omar

    January 23, 2023 at 8:56 pm

    The irrational apes are a real Dilemma!
    Current Psychologically isn’t science at all, except high percentage of behaviour psychologically.
    the irrational apes are worried about faked imaginary world.

  23. Amin Omar

    January 23, 2023 at 9:28 pm

    Be aware, lately the irrational apes are so worried about their faked imaginary irrational realm, they use the destructive irrational meanness to mislead the public especially simple people, they are so worried about losing control, current psychologically isn’t science at all except high percentage of behavioural psychological.
    take a look at what this irrational says: (Our memories and bodies give us clues about who we are, but what happens when this guidance shifts? In this mind-bending talk, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy shares how the experiences of “altered selves” resulting from schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, foreign limb syndrome or other conditions shed light on the constructed nature of identity. He breaks down where our sense of self comes from and invites us to challenge our assumptions about who we are, with the aim of building a better you and a better world.)
    phantom limbs are the result of wrong representation of the body, all human body details are in the brain, that could happen (there’s only one self, there is no many selfs !)
    Usually schizophrenia is the result of damage in the process of generating personal identity and consciousness process or the lack of understanding of what is going on in the brain, especially thoughts,…
    Be aware, the irrational apes are worried about their faked imaginary irrational world (they don’t care about humans) they are only worried about losing control.
    can irrational apes defy human?! That is impossible.
    be aware, lately they use the destructive irrational meanness to mislead the public to keep control.

  24. John Patrick

    January 23, 2023 at 9:38 pm

    *People think it’s all about making money but nahhh!! Y’all are making great financial mistakes I think growing money should be your 2023 decision this year it has made me who I am through investments.*

    • Gregory Barrett

      January 23, 2023 at 9:45 pm

      I’m a long term investor, I withdrew my profit of over £75,000 during the covid 19 pandemic…

    • berry kele

      January 23, 2023 at 9:45 pm

      I’m a long term investor, I withdrew my profit of over £75,000 during the covid 19 pandemic…

    • Smith Russell

      January 23, 2023 at 9:49 pm

      Please how can I reach out to Mr Brandon kalvin? I urgently need his management on my INVESTMENTS !

    • darmam dragon

      January 23, 2023 at 9:50 pm

      @Brandon_kalvin

    • darmam dragon

      January 23, 2023 at 9:50 pm

      Available on Tèlegram messager 👆

    • Smith Russell

      January 23, 2023 at 9:51 pm

      @darmam dragon
      Thanks 😊

  25. Kurt Boulter

    January 24, 2023 at 12:57 am

    (Genesis 2:7) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

  26. cybersekkin

    January 24, 2023 at 1:35 am

    Trying to ascribe sense and draw lessons from cognative disorders and creating non-sense in the process.

  27. Kevin Lamarr

    January 24, 2023 at 2:51 am

    Me.

  28. Brian McInnis

    January 24, 2023 at 2:58 am

    Answer: Waking up each and every goddamn morning and turning out to be the same goddamn human I was all the other mornings.

  29. Carline Lafaille

    January 24, 2023 at 3:24 am

    This is easily one of the best presentations I’ve ever watched

  30. KageKen67

    January 24, 2023 at 10:02 am

    12:28 Awareness…that’s what I am, that’s my ‘story’. Perception is awareness from a single point of knowledge. I exist at the moment of my current awareness, the ‘Now’, if you will. An analogy would be the spray created on the crest of a wave. I am the spray. The world is how it’s described, change the description, change the world. To be honest, words aren’t adequate to define life, to fluid, but hey, it’s all we’ve got. Existence is one, described as many. In my humble opinion, of course.

  31. Bret Netherton

    January 24, 2023 at 6:15 pm

    Awareness is known by awareness alone.

  32. Angel Gamaliel 369

    January 24, 2023 at 8:23 pm

    The SELF once experienced makes all illusions fall away, that’s when you realize the difference between the REAL eternal SELF and the limited/illusory ego self

  33. Shafi Sayyed

    January 25, 2023 at 5:25 pm

    I m a persion who has not kept a single pic of passed I have only few pasport size pic if a person come exectly same as I’m today I will not recnise him that he look like me ..only if other people say that this persion looks exactly like me then only I will that this guys looke like me., And i did only to not potry my self in my memory..thank you

  34. L V

    January 25, 2023 at 5:37 pm

    This is a scientific take on the exact same teachings of the Buddha: that we don’t have a permanent self but the self is a process that hallucinates reality.

  35. cosalidra

    January 25, 2023 at 8:17 pm

    Anil Seth, Anil Ananthaswamy and Sam Harris need to be together on a podcast. Please. Pleeeeeaaassseeeee.

  36. AN Raja

    January 26, 2023 at 4:23 am

    Want the right answer to the question ‘Who am I?’. Check the fabulous work of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi on self-enquiry!!!

  37. scientious

    January 26, 2023 at 9:54 am

    This is a very low level talk. It’s about a decade behind the actual research.

  38. BrokenRecord

    January 26, 2023 at 11:30 am

    There seems to be a clothing convention for male Ted Talkers – comfortable, casual, untucked.
    I wonder what the purpose is. Is this them? Is it meant to be approachable, proletariat, nonchalant?  
    I mean, it’s fine, it works.

  39. Clerisa Varghese

    January 26, 2023 at 2:39 pm

    I watched a movie recently called Split. This talk reminded me of that.

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