Human Condition

Occasionally I am quite surprised to find myself in this body. I'm struck by how bizarre it is: I visually observe the world through these imperfect eyes, have telekinetic control over a lump of matter extending to my extremities.

It isn't me, the lump that is. One could cut most of it off and I would still be me for a while. I am just a brain sitting in a a skull attached to a body. It isn't me. Is it?

Am I these thoughts? Electrical impulses and chemical signals and neural connections. Or is the body me too? Am I my feet and hands and torso and face? Are my toenails me? They are now dead, but were once living cells in my body. What about the five or so pounds of bacteria that inhabit my digestive tract (some of which are necessary for survival)?

Arbitrary.

The point is: there is no me. Just a vast organization of cooperating systems that promote their own survival and self-replication. Some of these systems work together and form the illusion of consciousness, more of a hub for interaction than a control center.

Occasionally several systems in this organism experience a temporary and incomplete self-awareness.