WHO IS ‘YOU’

Starting off the Fall 2025 semester strong, my ASTRO 2B03 tutorial prompted the question: “Who is ‘You?’” More specifically, what makes you, you? Are you your brain? If you were cloned, and the clone was biologically identical to you, would it be you? To make the discussion even more interesting, the thought experiment The Ship of Theseus was also thrown into the mix. These prompts brought about lots of diverse conversations, and I realized that not everyone has the same opinions as I initially thought. 

When discussing if we are our brains or what makes us, us, some people argued that the essence of who we are resides in our brains: every action potential in our brains allows us to think and act and be exactly who we are. They also mentioned that there is a section in our brain for every function we can think of: emotions, memory, decision-making, sound recognition, and so much more. This proves that our brains make up every aspect of who we are. They agreed that we would be nothing and nobody without our brains. Others argued that we are who we are because of our souls: that everything we stand for and believe in is because of the souls we have cultivated. They insisted that brain activity is there in our body, but it is the soul that allows for thought and identity.

I found the duality of the conversation to be very interesting, and it made me reflect on my own stance on the topic. I believe that we have souls, and that the body, brain, and all related neuronal and endocrine activity is a “map” or physical manifestation of our soul’s activity. In response to my opinion, a classmate followed up with asking ‘where are souls?’, to which I responded with the fact that we can only perceive three dimensions. There are so many details of the world that we cannot perceive because of the physical limitations of our five senses. We can only hear and see in a certain range of values because that’s all that is possible with our eyes and noses. All that to say, I believe souls may exist in a dimension that we cannot perceive. In a scientific sense, there is no way to prove that yet, but it is a thought-provoking theory. 

To the question “what if you were cloned, would that be you?” the first group—let’s call them Team Brain—generally agreed that the clone would be you. While the second group, Team Soul, generally said it would not be you. This makes sense because if you believe in unique souls, a biological clone will not have one, meaning that it lacks the one thing that makes you, you. However, if you, like Team Brain, believe that brain activity is what dictates a person, technically the clone would have the biological capacity of generating the same brain patterns as you, which would make them you. This question was a little less unanimous, especially when the prompt “what if the minute the clone was made, you were eliminated. Would the clone that remained be you?” was added. Even people from Team Soul agreed that it would be. Although an explanation on why people chose one answer over the other here was more difficult to articulate, we all answered intuitively regardless. 

For those who don’t know, the Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment that goes like this: if a ship departed from point A, and by the time it reached point B, every part of the boat was replaced or changed in maintenance, is it the same boat? Although it’s an intriguing question, Team Brain and Team Soul practically disbanded because everyone had slightly different opinions. I personally don’t see how it applies to the brain vs soul argument.

One way to think about it is, no, it is not the same boat because physical things about it have changed, inside and out. The other, more popular opinion is, yes, it is the same boat because it still has the same contents and people as before. Even though it looks different, it still has the same “soul.” But people are much more complex than boats. If we apply this to people, yes, as we grow up, our inside (mind) and outside (body) changes. We are not the same as we were when we were kids, but that doesn’t mean we are not the same person. We still have the same perspective of consciousness. Our point of view remains the same, which is good evidence that suggests we are the same person. Plus, if we are only talking about appearances, would you become a new person every time you cut your hair? Or every time you applied make up? What about when you wear a different style of clothing? How much physical change is enough to constitute being a different person? If we did become entirely different people just from changing our minds and our appearances, we wouldn’t have the same memories, roots, or point of view.  Overall, I’d say it is the same boat. 

This tutorial question not only inspired scientific and spiritual thinking alike, but it also opened our eyes to everyone’s diverse opinions. I really enjoyed debating and contemplating the answers to these questions, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it! Thank you to my wonderful tutorial group for this discussion! 

• creative
• debate
• identity
• thought provoking