The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self PDF
Preview The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self
Contents: Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Epigraph PROLOGUE 1. THE LIVING DEAD 2. THE UNMAKING OF YOUR STORY 3. THE MAN WHO DIDN’T WANT HIS LEG 4. TELL ME I’M HERE 5. I AM AS IF A DREAM 6. THE SELF’S BABY STEPS 7. WHEN YOU ARE BESIDE YOURSELF 8. BEING NO ONE, HERE AND NOW EPILOGUE Acknowledgments Notes Index About the Author An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 Copyright © 2015 by Anil Ananthaswamy Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. Portions of chapters 1, 7, and 8 appeared in New Scientist magazine. Most of chapter 3 was first published as a feature in the online magazine Matter. The parable narrated in the prologue is adapted with permission from Jonardon Ganeri. The English translation of the parable appears in his book The Self. DUTTON—EST. 1852 (Stylized) and DUTTON are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Ananthaswamy, Anil. The man who wasn’t there : investigations into the strange new science of the self / Anil Ananthaswamy. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978-0-69819081-8 1. Neuropsychology. 2. Identity (Psychology) 3. Mind and body. I. Title. QP360.A48 2015 616.80092'2—dc23 2015003576 While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. Version_1 to those of us who want to let go but wonder, who is letting go of what? CONTENTS TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT DEDICATION EPIGRAPH PROLOGUE 1. THE LIVING DEAD WHO IS THE ONE WHO SAYS, “I DON’T EXIST”? 2. THE UNMAKING OF YOUR STORY MEMORIES, A PERSON, A NARRATIVE—AND ITS UNRAVELING 3. THE MAN WHO DIDN’T WANT HIS LEG IS THE FEELING THAT YOU OWN YOUR BODY AND ITS VARIOUS PARTS BASED ON REALITY? 4. TELL ME I’M HERE WHEN YOUR ACTIONS DON’T FEEL LIKE YOUR OWN AND WHAT IT DOES TO THE SELF 5. I AM AS IF A DREAM THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN THE MAKING OF THE SELF 6. THE SELF’S BABY STEPS WHAT AUTISM TELLS US ABOUT THE DEVELOPING SELF 7. WHEN YOU ARE BESIDE YOURSELF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES, DOPPELGÄNGERS, AND THE MINIMAL SELF 8. BEING NO ONE, HERE AND NOW ECSTATIC EPILEPSY AND THE UNBOUNDED SELF EPILOGUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTES INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR It seems outlandish that the centerless universe, in all its spatiotemporal immensity, should have produced me, of all people . . . There was no such thing as me for ages, but with the formation of a particular physical organism at a particular place and time, suddenly there is me, for as long as the organism survives. . . . How can the existence of one member of one species have this remarkable consequence? —Thomas Nagel PROLOGUE A n allegory about a man who was devoured by ogres first appears in an ancient Indian Buddhist text of the Madhyamika (the middle-way) tradition. It dates from sometime between 150 and 250 CE and is a somewhat gruesome illustration of the Buddhist notion of the true nature of the self. A man on a long journey to a distant land finds a deserted house and decides to rest for the night. At midnight, an ogre turns up carrying a corpse. He sets the corpse down next to the man. Soon, another ogre in pursuit of the first arrives at the deserted house. The two ogres begin bickering over the corpse. Each claims to have brought the dead man to the house and wants ownership of it. Unable to resolve their dispute, they turn to the man who saw them come in, and ask him to adjudicate. They want an answer. Who brought the corpse to the house? The man, realizing the futility of lying to the ogres—for if one won’t kill him, the other one will—tells the truth: the first ogre came with the corpse, he says. The angry second ogre retaliates by ripping off the man’s arm. What ensues gives the allegory its macabre twist. The first ogre immediately detaches an arm from the corpse and attaches it to the man. And so it goes: the second ogre rips a body part off the man; the first ogre replaces it by taking the same body part from the corpse and attaching it to the man. They end up swapping everything—arms, legs, the torso, and even the head. Finally, the two ogres make a meal of the corpse, wipe their mouths clean, and leave. The man, whom the ogres have left behind, is extremely disturbed. He is left pondering what he has witnessed. The body that he was born in has been eaten by the ogres. His body now is made up of body parts of someone else entirely. Does he now have a body or doesn’t he? If the answer is yes, is it his body or someone else’s? If the answer is no, then what is he to make of the body that he can see? The next morning, the man sets off on the road, in a state of utter confusion. He finally meets a group of Buddhist monks. He has a burning question for them: does he exist or does he not? The monks throw the question back at him: who are you? The man is not sure how to answer the question. He’s not sure he’s even a person, he says—and tells the monks of his harrowing encounter with the ogres. What would modern neuroscientists tell the man if he were to ask them Who am I? While some would likely point out the near-biological implausibility of what the ogres did, they would nonetheless have some tantalizing answers. These answers, which strive to illuminate the “I,” are the focus of this book.
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