Identity.

We often wonder “who am I?”

This is one of my favorite topics to explore. Let me begin by asking you something interesting. Theseus (a man) had a ship. As the ship needed repair, it was replaced part by part, up to a point where not a single part of the original ship remained in it, anymore.

Is it, then, still the same ship? If all the discarded parts were used to build another ship, which of the two, if either, is the real Ship of Theseus?

That’s a classic philosophical paradox of identity. Would you still be you if all the organs in your body get replaced?

If yes, then what are we if not a collection of organs working together in complete harmony. What is that something that stays the same even if we replace all the organs?

Let me confuse a little more, There are 10 times more microorganisms than cells in our body. We often assume we are this monolithic entity, but we are an ecosystem. So when I say “I” does that refer to the whole ecosystem or something else?

Is whole equal to the sum of the parts? Or is greater than the parts?

Here is what I think, There is a sum of all the parts, then there is a sum of all the interactions the parts have within themselves and the relationship, and then there is a sum of all the interactions and relationships that the parts of the unit have with its environment and the whole is made up of all these parts.

when the parts stop interacting with each other the parts stay and the whole vanishes and that is a dead man.

would love to know your thoughts on this.