You know roughly where your body is at all times, but where in it is your “self”?

Your center of mass is around the solar plexus, yet that doesn’t seem to universally be where people feel the center of their self to be. Most people feel they “are” right behind their eyes, probably in the brain.

Sometimes people have out-of-body experiences, completely changing their anchor for a while.

When pointing at themselves, people tend to point a thumb at their chest or face. Do they feel differently about it, or is it just convenience?

Are you a body with a head full of thinking goop and sensors on top, or are you a head sitting on a body?

And wherever you feel you are, have you felt different at any time? Can you change it?

Personally, I can’t separate the feeling of self from my vision, so “I” am directly behind my eyeballs and I can’t change it.

  • SomeDude@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    I am this. The human nervous system is actually what I am, most of it is concentrated in the brain, but there’s also lots of it outside of it. The rest of my body is just an astronaut suit made out of flesh to keep me alive.

    • remotelove@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I am not seeing the rest of your body in that selfie. Can you just hop in and out of your meat-suit when you want? Cool party trick, but I wouldn’t go it any kids birthday parties.

      I am guessing you are part Dalek, so that is also cool.

    • DudePluto@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you’re going to break it down that far, why stop? Your “self” is not your central nervous system, but a portion of it - and not a very large one. It’s your consciousness. Most of what your nervous system does is not conscious.

      Your self (and mine) are but a small portion of a single organ in a large network of organs and tissues and cells and bacteria. We developed because it was advantageous for our bodies - which predate our consciousness - to have pilots. We are periphery. We are a single part of an ecosystem. And definitely not the center of it