i don't believe in "myself," from a certain point of view ..

[grey_ghost]

More than half the time I think I am best measured by the friends I have. By that, I mean that what they say gives fascinating ideas and lead me to paths of thought that I'd otherwise not have considered.

A friend of mine wrote this in a comment to when I supposed that I was an automaton.
I think here you fall back too easily on your mathgradness

Comments

analysis of post

[anonymous]

first paragraph: actually, this should be _all_ the time. as the proverb says, "A man is known by the company he keeps

[grey_ghost]

first paragraph: actually, this should be _all_ the time. as the proverb says, "A man is known by the company he keeps".

Proverbs aren't facts. For instance, another proverb says that whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

Also, what happens if a man keeps no company? Does it mean that he cannot be judged? q:

proverbs

[anonymous]

actually, my favorite proverb pairs are: look before you leap/he who hesitates is lost//beware of greeks bearing gifts/never look a gift horse in the mouth

but there is a grain of truth to this. does a virtuous man life in a whorehouse? does a straight A student hang out with the troublemakers in class?

a man with no company is deemed a loner, for he is either misanthropic, paranoid, or both. someone with no company also has our pity.

Re: proverbs

[anonymous]

"A" students are totally troublemakers :) that's been my observation. And Jesus was all up on the whores and other riffraff, and made a big speech about how virtuous that is.

i should honor all the philosophical ideas in this thread with more thought, but i've got to sleep. meanwhile here's a quickie i'm-such-a-nerd comment; i used a corny ODE-trajectory metaphor for some of my grad school apps. but really i like the random walkin.

i think there's some entity you can call one's "self." it just encompasses a lot, and changes constantly, some apparent stability but of the dynamic-equilibrium kind.

--johanna

analysis part 2

[anonymous]

the duality question is one that people have struggled with for ages. even star trek: tng dealt with this once. counselor troi, when asked by capt. picard why she did not act on the dualism she sensed in a man who was possessed by some alien life form, she responded that she feels this in all humans. like when we talk to ourselves, or ask "why the heck did i do that?" when no one is around. from the christian viewpoint, we are both body and soul, in which the soul is the thing that makes us more than just electrical impulses. but even from within christianity, this belief is muddled. for example, the heterdox "division theology" as detailed in http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6696/christianconnection.html... )

[grey_ghost]

To be honest, until I reread this post, I hadn't realized that I brought up the notion of duality. Also, I prefer the terms (physical) body and (sentient) mind for self-evident reasons.

I also meant to describe personality as more than a dual object, but a multi-faceted thing. Simplistically, I can consider the mathmo me, the blogger me, the running me, the sport me, the sarcastic-lounging-on-the-couch me, and plenty of others.

Part of me suspects that everyone is in some way a multiple-personality; some are merely better at controlling and keeping compatible the varying personalities within themselves.

I don't even dare ponder the notion of genius. That's beyond my ken, but others may try if they like. q: