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What is it like to be a bat?

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180 points adityaathalye | 1 comments | 03 Sep 25 17:48 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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bettating ◴[03 Sep 25 19:26 UTC] No.45119554[source]▶
What is it like to be another person?
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esafak ◴[03 Sep 25 19:45 UTC] No.45119704[source]▶
I'm not sure how to answer the even more fundamental question, "What is it like to be yourself?" What constitutes a valid answer? It's a vague question.
replies(2): >>45119865 #>>45120060 #
the_af ◴[03 Sep 25 20:29 UTC] No.45120060[source]▶
True. I suppose every one of us has asked:

What makes me me? Whatever you identify as "yourself", how come it lives within your body? Why is there not someone else living inside your body? Why was I born, specifically "me", and not someone else?

This has puzzled me since childhood.

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1. selcuka ◴[04 Sep 25 01:53 UTC] No.45122583[source]▶
> I suppose every one of us has asked

Not at all. I was shocked when I noticed that how few people have asked themselves this question. In fact, it is impossible to even explain this question to the majority of people. Most people confuse the question with "what makes us intelligent", missing the whole "first person perspective" aspect of it.

I guess evolution tries to stop us from asking question that might lead to nihilism.