Sam Harris

There's a few things I believe that are, that I believe pretty firmly here. One is that The conventional sense of self that people are walking around with is an illusion which can be discovered to be such. So you can inspect it to the point where you no longer feel that way in the same sense. And it's not to say that you would never use the word self again or that you find yourself –

to be the same as other people or you can't differentiate yourself from the world. I mean there are things that don't happen but it's important to just say at the outset that this is worth looking into because psychologically it's incredibly helpful and I think ultimately ethically it's incredibly helpful to come to some understanding that what you take yourself to be subjectively

to be the same as other people or you can't differentiate yourself from the world. I mean there are things that don't happen but it's important to just say at the outset that this is worth looking into because psychologically it's incredibly helpful and I think ultimately ethically it's incredibly helpful to come to some understanding that what you take yourself to be subjectively

to be the same as other people or you can't differentiate yourself from the world. I mean there are things that don't happen but it's important to just say at the outset that this is worth looking into because psychologically it's incredibly helpful and I think ultimately ethically it's incredibly helpful to come to some understanding that what you take yourself to be subjectively

moment to moment matters and can be the linchpin of really all of your unnecessary suffering, right? So it's worth looking into. So the feeling of self that I think most people are walking around with by default is the sense that there's a subject interior to the body that is the thinker and doer and true agent of conscious life. So it's not that people feel identical to their bodies.

moment to moment matters and can be the linchpin of really all of your unnecessary suffering, right? So it's worth looking into. So the feeling of self that I think most people are walking around with by default is the sense that there's a subject interior to the body that is the thinker and doer and true agent of conscious life. So it's not that people feel identical to their bodies.

moment to moment matters and can be the linchpin of really all of your unnecessary suffering, right? So it's worth looking into. So the feeling of self that I think most people are walking around with by default is the sense that there's a subject interior to the body that is the thinker and doer and true agent of conscious life. So it's not that people feel identical to their bodies.

They feel almost like passengers in their bodies. They feel like they have bodies. Now, I think there's a lot of rational people who don't believe that to be true. If you tell a scientist that he doesn't feel identical to his body, he might object because he knows himself to be conceptually identical to his body.

They feel almost like passengers in their bodies. They feel like they have bodies. Now, I think there's a lot of rational people who don't believe that to be true. If you tell a scientist that he doesn't feel identical to his body, he might object because he knows himself to be conceptually identical to his body.

They feel almost like passengers in their bodies. They feel like they have bodies. Now, I think there's a lot of rational people who don't believe that to be true. If you tell a scientist that he doesn't feel identical to his body, he might object because he knows himself to be conceptually identical to his body.

He knows that if he doesn't believe in an immortal soul that can be separated from the body, well, then he believes that he's identical to his brain and the totality of what it's doing neurologically in his body. But as a matter of experience... nevertheless, most people, whatever they believe, they feel that they're not quite identical to their whole body. They have hands.

He knows that if he doesn't believe in an immortal soul that can be separated from the body, well, then he believes that he's identical to his brain and the totality of what it's doing neurologically in his body. But as a matter of experience... nevertheless, most people, whatever they believe, they feel that they're not quite identical to their whole body. They have hands.

He knows that if he doesn't believe in an immortal soul that can be separated from the body, well, then he believes that he's identical to his brain and the totality of what it's doing neurologically in his body. But as a matter of experience... nevertheless, most people, whatever they believe, they feel that they're not quite identical to their whole body. They have hands.

They can imagine being without hands. And that sense of dualism extends really to everything they can notice about their physical bodies. And I think most people would imagine that Even if they're materialists, what they are as conscious agents is a matter of what the brain is doing.

They can imagine being without hands. And that sense of dualism extends really to everything they can notice about their physical bodies. And I think most people would imagine that Even if they're materialists, what they are as conscious agents is a matter of what the brain is doing.

They can imagine being without hands. And that sense of dualism extends really to everything they can notice about their physical bodies. And I think most people would imagine that Even if they're materialists, what they are as conscious agents is a matter of what the brain is doing.

And if you could have a brain transplant, you would expect to go with the brain and not remain with the body, right? So if you took my brain and put it in another body, I would expect to move over there. At minimum, people feel like they are their brains, but... experience doesn't give us any evidence of even having brains, right?

And if you could have a brain transplant, you would expect to go with the brain and not remain with the body, right? So if you took my brain and put it in another body, I would expect to move over there. At minimum, people feel like they are their brains, but... experience doesn't give us any evidence of even having brains, right?

And if you could have a brain transplant, you would expect to go with the brain and not remain with the body, right? So if you took my brain and put it in another body, I would expect to move over there. At minimum, people feel like they are their brains, but... experience doesn't give us any evidence of even having brains, right?

Much less that the brain is relevant to the nature of consciousness or the nature of what our minds are doing. So it's worth differentiating what people conceptually know about the biology and the mind's dependency on the brain and what they feel subjectively and just phenomenologically how they move through life.