Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Philosophy of Life: We are all one (and hungry)

What makes a person a person is a sense of self (self-consciousness) i.e., a feeling of identity and having memories and an internal narrative and all this is conditioned by, or a function of, the hippocampus, when we find that the proteins and chemicals associated with self-consciousness show up in other forms of life we cannot rule out the possibility these life forms are similar to us —i.e., they are self-consciousness personalities in their own right. These chemicals show up in the brains of crabs, shrimp, lobsters, insects and “other arthropods, including centipedes, millipedes and some arachnids. Even vertebrates, including humans, have them in a brain structure called the hippocampus, a known center for memory and learning.” According to the lead scientist in this study: "Corresponding brain centers -- the mushroom body in arthropods, marine worms, flatworms and, possibly, the hippocampus of vertebrates -- appear to have a very ancient origin in the evolution of animal life.” We are all living unique personal selves, and we eat each other.
"All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all."
Bon appétit !

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