Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? - Maryam Alimardani

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Our bodies - the physical, biological parts of us - and our minds - the thinking, conscious aspects - have a complicated, tangled relationship. Which one primarily defines you or your self? Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? Maryam Alimardani investigates.
Lesson by Maryam Alimardani, directed by Ivana Bošnjak & Thomas Johnson.
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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible.
Shooteram, Catherine Sverko, Nik Maier, Robert Sukosd, Mark Morris, Tamás Drávai, Adi V, Peter Liu, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Michal Salman, Julie Cummings-Debrot, Zayed Al Maktoum, Ka-Hei Law, Maya Toll, Javier Martinez Lorenzo, Aleksandar Srbinovski, Jose Mamattah, Mauro Pellegrini, Ricardo Rendon Cepeda, Renhe Ji, Andrés Melo Gámez.

[@TEDEd]

What do you think? Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? Also, we hope you noticed the book rec at the end of the vid. You can download an audio version of the book for free at www.audible.com/teded. And for even more book recs from our team, visit ed.ted.com/books.

[@raunaksingh8216]

Certainly Satguru Jaggi Vasudev has a vivid answer to it.

[@Marijanus]

TED-Ed I think mind with a body.

[@luqmanadam4913]

I dont mind at all.

[@cz4323]

Need a caption (text)

[@EternalHappElements]

The neuron network is situated by the bodily input.

[@lobsterlog1191]

I came here with a question and now I'm leaving with three.

[@RunmanLP]

Welcome to the world of philosophy 😅

[@lorenaa1879]

😂😂

[@aishaahmed2760]

Read Quran and l bet you will find the answers for your questions

[@aishaahmed2760]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpfIfHyup9x9fbc

[@swdrre-upload5423]

@@aishaahmed2760 no, it'll just stop you asking that question. You have to find the answer yourself through meditation and the realization of lack of true identity of you

[@smoewoe]

oh hello existential crisis nice to see you again

[@deepakmnair4165]

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[@jayg6tk]

dramatic

[@RazorM97]

lol hello

[@paulberent1896]

Hello

[@jayrun4341]

samantha mae I see it five times a day. Help me.

[@OMAR-vq3yb]

This made me emotional. There is beauty in humanity trying to understand itself.

[@busraaaaa03]

bro you talk like ur not human 😶

[@MrEddie4679]

@@busraaaaa03 it be like "Ah this idiotic human race, so cute"

[@busraaaaa03]

@@MrEddie4679 LMAOOOOOOO

[@tracer1068]

Its just the music

[@criss3619]

@@busraaaaa03 that makes no sense lmao

[@Jackkenway]

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul, you have a body."

[@besik5416]

Are you saying that’s true or false?

[@___vv___6474]

@@besik5416 yesn't

[@nvnbkr5221]

Exactly!!! 💯

[@malakelsokkary673]

Yess! People are complicating everything when they don't believe that we are just souls with a mind and a body .simple as that.

[@kolawolegbolahan935]

This is like the wave-particle duality of light... Even the mind has layers that gets confusing... The fact that you can examine your thoughts is just as perplexing... And that you have thoughts that come from a subconscious that you can't easily interact/examine is even more perplexing... TED-Ed tells us enough to let us realize there's so much more we don't know.

[@kuntakchattopadhyay9487]

I've an exam literally 2 hours from now... And I'm here dealing with existential crisis

[@jessegalarpe7594]

Did you pass tho?

[@kuntakchattopadhyay9487]

@@jessegalarpe7594 I really doubt it 😕 and the result isn't out yet

[@kuntakchattopadhyay9487]

@@jessegalarpe7594 ok bro new update! My result is out and I've passed, with great difficulty

[@kuntakchattopadhyay9487]

@fking deadbrain bhakts nope bro.. just completing the graduation in history

[@kuntakchattopadhyay9487]

@fking deadbrain bhakts I'm doing it from Visva Bharati University. And I can't see any clear light of hope in near future. Seriously bro.. I don't know which way I'm heading towards

[@TheScienceBiome]

The music, animation style and the content of this video resulted in me having a massive existential crisis😧

[@Randy-up9mo]

D.A.B Science and More! I feel like this "existential crisis" thing has become a meme or joke more than a real thing...😂

[@OrdnanceTV]

It's a real thing and I feel you. I've felt this way since I was about 9 years old.

[@the1exnay]

How so? Had you previously believed yourself to have a soul, separate from your brain? What freaked you out about this realisation?

[@sebastianelytron8450]

Check out the "School of Life" or "exurb1a" or "Kurzxgesagagstgstgasgsast" for a more existential crises coming your way :-)

[@Randy-up9mo]

Sebastian Elytron FLOSS is essential for an happy life without parallel

[@Unwanted_truth_]

When I felt more like a body with a mind I used to spend more time indulging on desirable things to please my senses. Now that I feel more like a mind in control of a body I do more things to progress in life. I think perception of this can play a big part in how people choose to live because of what they view, consciously and subconsciously, as being a priority and worth spending time on.

[@sonurohit6614]

You are neither the body, nor the mind - Sadhguru

[@kakyoin5862]

@@sonurohit6614 “You neither the body, nor the mind. Thats right. You are nothing. Give up.” -Sadhguru (joke)

[@ArlenisMendez-xu5if]

excellent point. well said

[@sabrinas.1302]

This is my perception of my existence as well☺️

[@aleksandrakim4925]

At first, right after watching this video, I was quite terrified because I didn’t get a thing. However, after digging into the topic for a while, I’ve worked out something important. Something I’d like to share with the viewers, as it really comes in handy for understanding the concept. In my view, the idea is that a person is neither a body with a mind nor a mind with a body. A person is a system, where both a mind and a body perform different, but equally significant, functions. Here is why. Imagine a human as a computer. Speaking computer science (hope you are familiar with a computer structure), our brain is a processor and the body is information input / output means. In other words, your mind is undoubtedly in charge of processing information, which is what we do every day and what we live for (in a way). To be precise, by information I mean our sensations, of course, that we gain from our sense organs. That is the point where our physical bodies play their crucial role. We gain knowledge about everything around us (including ourselves, actually) by listening, watching, touching, sniffing and tasting. Therefore, if not for the sense organs, there would be no information for the brain to work on and no outcoming conclusions made and no knowledge gained and no picture of the world created, no perception and no ourselves, as we know it, after all. Concluding, a mind does control a body, but it (a mind) wouldn’t be so almighty, if not for a body.

[@kolawolegbolahan935]

As a CS student, Your mind isn't the equivalent of the processor. That's the brain... Your mind is the equivalent of an AI Operating System, mostly centralized in the brain but with bits of decentralized nodes and .... Lemme stop. The computer is to the human system what a my drawings are compared to Picasso's 😅

[@havenbastion]

All minds have body but not all bodies have a mind.

[@The1113015]

Kaiser Basileus I like that. In other words, to have consciousness(the mind), a physical body which includes the brain ( the mode of sensory input and processing) is required. But a body without a mind could never be aware of itself i.e. the state of being dead. Edit: so from this perspective, the original question, “are you a mind with a body, or a body with a mind?” Would be answered as you are a body with a mind. Your body was the right combination of atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems that came together to function uniquely and result in the mind that is you. Once this body stops functioning, the concept of a mind that is you ceases to exist. Edit 2: this means that you cannot truly separate a persons body and mind. The identity of a person is composed of both their mind and body. A persons body is what we can physically observe and identify as “them”. And their mind is what they can use to observe and become aware of themselves and the outside world. This topic has got me thinking lol

[@LoveLove-gf8gi]

Awesome analogy.... Let's go a little further and use an Alzheimer's patient mind and body. They STILL have a body but their mind is no longer able to connect with it due to faulty signal's so perhaps one day we or someone can figure out a way to reconnect the signals and reconstruct the cords to the body in which the mind has been assigned to starting from birth.

[@naomismith5206]

Interesting point of view. I like your analogy. Really made me think! Going off your idea I feel like there could be an argument made on the other side too! Because in theory computers can be programmed to see, hear, taste and touch. But even without that physical experience, we have other senses/traits of self. Like emotion, intuition, personality etc. and I think it is unlikely that our human senses are the only ways existence can be experienced. There are definitely senses that exist in my mind that I can’t put into word or explain, like how in particular moments I have a “feeling” (though not a feeling that can be explained with my words) that attaches itself to the moment I’m in. I think it’s so interesting to think about. I hope that some discoveries will be made while my body and mind are in existence together 😂 I’d love to understand or have more to consider while I’m alive lol.

[@GAMINGWITHCHINAR]

Me: Brain is the best organ.... Wait why am I saying this, Brain : oh, sometimes I become selfish

[@umapessoanaosuspeita8608]

Lol

[@IITandBeyond]

well theres a difference in being selfish and just fact

[@existentialchild698]

brain! why do you sometimes become shell fish?

[@prakharsinghrawat1442]

Body: Am i a joke 2 u.....

[@everythingisamindgame9666]

Brain is the most important organ our minds r just an avatar for human consiouness we r just conscious beings not body's or minds.

[@firenationfiles2063]

_Processing..._ _Processing..._ *brain.exe has stopped responding*

[@neverstopdatta1402]

god opens his task manager and ends the task. R.I.P restarts the application... wow, you are reborn!

[@johnnyrajan5902]

@@sixtyducksinatrenchcoat981 underrated comment

[@TamWam_]

never stop datta lol

[@sleepingpenguin1949]

This is a comment that I can hear

[@trendymaths2467]

A ‘virus’ hmmm....?

[@owen9901]

"If we close our eyes in a silent room, the feeling of having a body isn't something we can just imagine away." It seems like this is quite untrue. You can meditate and let go of the feeling of having a body. You can also daydream/dream the feeling away. Does anybody else have thoughts on this?

[@baharerfani]

Yes. Exactly.👍

[@peterpan9780]

there are sensory deprivation tanks. in them it's complete dark, no sound and your floating on water. the moer time one spends there, the more they hallucinate and imagine things. question is, do they do it bc they can? bc the brain needs to "work"? something completely different?

[@kolawolegbolahan935]

Imagination, Meditation Psychedelic, Sensory deprivation tanks... You can't imagine your body away i.e. you can't separate your mind from your body through these activities (even if you *FEEL* out of body). If something were to terminate your body's biological activities, your mind goes with it...

[@TheChuiCullain]

@@kolawolegbolahan935 okay but the question was regarding the feeling of having a body

[@tellythemodel]

Yes, you can definitely separate the 2 with very strong feelings during meditation. I do it everyday during my meditation! 🙌🏽

[@athulya4147]

if we close our eyes in a silent room long enough, the feeling of having a body can definitely go away once you get out of the habit of imagining and projecting it in your own mind. This is called meditation. It brings your perceptions closer to your actual experience of reality, decluttering your discursive thoughts and imagination.

[@BehavingBradly]

Yes, exactly!

[@kronothethird]

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide No escape from reality

[@nyctoverse5036]

open your eyes

[@Leto85]

@@nyctoverse5036 Look up to the skies and see

[@LuisRodriguez-mm9sm]

I'm just a poor boy

[@giasharie274]

I need no simpathy

[@giasharie274]

Because of easy come, easy go

[@stocklilves4060]

*Nods silently*

[@this_rishi]

StockLilves you wanted to write *Nods silently*, but ended but making your comment bold

[@elwoofum5647]

I stole your profile picture, I hope you don't mind.

[@frogcapevill4411]

Ghosttrail803 _ *Nods Silently*

[@nuclearcoil]

*So that's how you make it bold. Damn! I can bold all my comments now!*

[@stocklilves4060]

Bork 👍

[@javamotion]

The wonderful thing about getting older is that this kind of inquiry makes you feel lighter and more free or at least in my case it does. I'm enjoying my 38 years old self. Thank you TED

[@themalluspeaker5628]

39 now!😁

[@zakariaabdimohamed7063]

40 now

[@enigma194]

That last part, something that we haven't yet dreamt up! We aren't capable of imagining every possibility, since we're limited by what we know or our collective knowledge

[@wrcyisnlta23]

"A circle has no beginning." -Luna Lovegood

[@leomdk939]

But it first had a beginning that later became obscured by the connection made when the circle was completed.

[@christopherjamesbautista901]

Maybe it has always been a circle

[@mohamedalkindi7592]

Neither does a square

[@christopherjamesbautista901]

Mohamad AlKindi but you know where a side starts ends. That’s why a circle is a much better comparison.

[@blauwbeer556]

thx for stating the obvious.

[@eliyamatar210]

I questioned things like that when I was a kid until now I asked myself like how do I know I'm me? Or what makes me, me? If I wasn't born in this body but in a different body will I be the same or think the same? It's very hard for me to write my questions, it's easier to question them in my brain

[@courtneyc417]

200 subs with no videos? I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOU’RE SAYING. have you ever though about out of the 6 billion people in the world... you ended up being you? Blows my mind lol

[@ynntari2775]

I can relate. I also sometimes got weirded by the sensation of "wait, why am't I all these people? Why do I only control and feel this very specific body all the time?"

[@dimitrivitalik2904]

Ƿynnťari trust me. One day i’ll make a another body for you. Uploading your mind in my server.

[@jessiemarie636]

I’ve definitely wondered if I could have been born in a different body

[@goertzpsychiatry9340]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZTMoHaggqqkqK8

[@elfilalibouchra6247]

This exactly the question that pops up in my mind recently so thank you for uploading the video.

[@prayaschandnayak4809]

the vedanta describes the mind as an abstract concept, different from brain which is the physical organ of our body as of 4 levels. 1. buddhi(intellect) 2. manas(memory) 3. ahamkara(identity or the sense of one-ness) 4. chitta(conciousness)

[@shambhaviacharya5425]

Finally! Someone commented this!

[@neelparekh1759]

Can you share more knowledge, as i am currently very interested in Knowing this thing

[@neelparekh1759]

Pls help me

[@sritidutta242]

@@neelparekh1759 I think u should study Upanishads to know more abt this

[@neelparekh1759]

@@sritidutta242 I hope you understand that I made this comment 2 months ago, now I stay away from this stuffs

[@writerofsorts8668]

I think about this all the time, oh my goodness. Am I a brain with a conscience or a conscience with a brain? Am I a soul with a physical body or a physical body with a soul? Am I a hotel? Trivago.

[@jsan2586]

socially awkward In the face of all this philosophy, at the end of the day what's up with business lmao

[@purple3951]

Yikes

[@human3507]

writerofsorts your bio is 100% me

[@psychedelicspirit48]

😂😂

[@user-jh9nx6tl1n]

You are a hotel.

[@plumpengu]

This video title messed with my mind, I didn't ask for this

[@NusratJahan-hs2fs]

Lol

[@LinhNguyen-my5my]

I like asian girl

[@TheClickbaiterA]

@@LinhNguyen-my5my cool man, I like them too..

[@lar9299]

Let alone the thought-provoking information or how philosophical this is, the whole video is edited and done so beautifully that it is truly inspiring. The music is accurate and perfectly emotional too. Does the track have a name?

[@yashnanda6413]

Me too... I'm intrigued by the music a lot and want to listen to the whole track but can't find it

[@keedee4761]

When i was younger, I used to think I was the only person who discovered awareness of being able to perceive other things asidefrom whats offered. I once rode a public vehicle and looked at tge window then wondered if other people thought about me and everyone else the way I do. Bottomline is: the human mind is amazing.

[@mrss_foster]

But when one is meditating, our body kind of feels like it's not there. It's just our self, our mind travelling, and falling in place. At least, when I meditate deeply I stop feeling my body. And, my mind just calms.

[@dmn9623]

Doesn't it just mean your consciousness trying to be calm-

[@malinisinha5197]

And that's why we say mind and body are separate.....

[@menyak01]

Same when I am high

[@ngotranhoanhson5987]

Bruh, it is focus, you just dont care about your 5 senses anymore when meditating, not disconnect from it

[@ngotranhoanhson5987]

Like, when i punch you in the head when you are meditating, you just snapback to reality real quick, simple explanation

[@abhi_sh3_k]

*existential crisis intensifies*

[@cerebrumexcrement]

😅😅😅😅

[@beiyuanism]

i've spent half a semester studying this in philosophy and it still fucks me up

[@nightshade2826]

And I feel like I'm going to think about it until the end of my time.

[@kolawolegbolahan935]

Yeah, we've been thinking about it since whenever... And we will think about it till whenever... And still get f-ed up 😂

[@dicidicee]

To be honest I don't find this question all that relevant. All the scientific evidence we have points to the fact that consciousness sits in the brain, and when the brain gets damaged or completely shuts off, so does consciousness. When the brain is subject to certain hormones or chemicals, its behaviour can be altered. The relationship between mind and physical brain has been overwhelmingly demonstrated. On the other hand, there is absolutely no evidence for any other theory of where the mind comes from. We can spend all the time we want claiming there is still a debate and all our physical sensations may be illusory, but this is at best a funny thought experiment and at worst a futile exercise. The thing is that we have nothing else than our senses to evaluate what is true or not, what exists or not. If we start rejecting all our sensations on the premise that our senses are flawed (which they are), then we lose our only way to do anything at all in our life. So, while it's an interesting thought experiment, it has no practical application and all the evidence of the world weighs in favor of a materialistic world where everything that happens or exists can be explained with physics.

[@nightshade2826]

@@dicidicee Philosophy isnt about practicality though. The very purpose of philosophy is to think for the sake of thinking. There isnt always a goal to get the right answer. Humans will question what is real and what is not either way because doubt is an emotion we all feel no matter how much evidence we have. That is why thought experiments exist. Zenon's paradoxes are entirely impractical and imaginery and defy all logic. Yet they have been argued about for centuries for the sake of arguing because they break reality in a way that is all so intriguing to us all and evoke that desire to doubt and know. Which, is the literal meaning of philosophy. So I think thought experiments like these are needed in this sense.

[@dicidicee]

@@nightshade2826 I'm not sure all of philosophy's purpose is to digress on topics with no practical applications. If you think about the concepts of moral, justice, the meaning of life or its absence, all of this can yield a practical guide to how to behave, organize societies, and go about our lives. Personally I find that doubting everything or making extreme hypotheses with no material proof of it is not productive, so it doesn't interest me very much, but again I recognize this can be a personal opinion.

[@ogbama1449]

You’re a spirit with a mind, living inside a body.

[@fadfsdfasfsa]

You are wrong, you should read Descartes and David Chalmers. Your mind or spirit (which is same thing) can not live inside your body or be instantiated in space at all, because everything that is in space is extensive, and everything that is extensive is material, not mental, therefore your mind is not in your body, because it would only be a property of material substance. You should read Descartes, beside, mind, spirit, soul, reason or intellect, according to Descartes, it is all the same - res cogitans (spiritual substance) whose primary attribute or essential property is thought and extensiveness.-

[@ocean9137]

Too much. Can't process.

[@snowballeclipse4991]

I agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[@austiblazeit9081]

Ocean Error 404, shutting down.

[@chlatepdng]

Ocean lol

[@djbray7]

But it's so simple...

[@awesome1990s]

lol

[@gabriellesinclair971]

Who is the one that hears words in your mind with no sound vibration and who sees images and videos in your head when your eyes are closed and everything is dark? Experiences without senses. What are thoughts?

[@isidoramichaelis7090]

Some kind of memory

[@isidoramichaelis7090]

Of the energy ;)

[@malichimedina861]

@@isidoramichaelis7090 Energy is insufficient evidence for abstract thoughts. Abstract thoughts like shapes and numbers cannot be viewed by science. It's kinda impossible.

[@fareehaxoxo8568]

Maybe it's stored or transformed state of energy stored in your memory

[@luongmaihunggia]

Thoughts are products of a complex neural networks with neurons firing electrical signals and communicating with each other.

[@harshradadiya3705]

I would say that I am a soul with a mind that lives together in a body to experience all that's around me. (My mind also has ego about the existence of my body that leads me to believe that I'm this body and not anything else)

[@aragon5869]

I always have the question if we are a soul, a consciousness with a question where we came from, or simply a collection of smaller objects, neurons, that makes this soul

[@fadfsdfasfsa]

Your mind or spirit (which is same thing) can not live inside your body or be instantiated in space at all, because everything that is in space is extensive, and everything that is extensive is material, not mental, therefore your mind is not in your body, because it would only be a property of material substance. You should read Descartes, beside, mind, spirit, soul, reason or intellect, according to Descartes, it is all the same - res cogitans (spiritual substance) whose primary attribute or essential property is thought and extensiveness.- And if you want to know something serious about this intriguing philosophical problem you should definitely read Descartes and Chalmers, as many other great philosophers of the mind. People tend to make one of the most common categorical errors: if the mind and the brain (or the whole body) interact with each other or connect or come into a causal relationship, this implies a relation of identity - mind and body are the same thing, but correlation and causation are not same as identity.

[@angel-lc6mf]

been questioning this for years. Thank you man

[@Pk-xx1my]

Did you know your brain named itself brain?

[@zillionist]

hahaha love this

[@elcalabozodelandroide2]

Todos somos Narcisistas Demostrado

[@thalespro9995]

Did u know the brain called itself the best organs

[@cincin4997]

Woahhh

[@notoriousboy3397]

No he named itself "otak"

[@JohhNy]

Answer: Yes.

[@Miimu5210]

long answer: yeeeeeeessssssss

[@garrilrumampuk1811]

Best answer

[@parkerjeans5777]

JohhNy my answer exactly to a nonsense or a paridoxial question. A nonsense answer.

[@alexwang982]

JohhNy answer to me No

[@dontknowdontcare1934]

ITS funny cuz it's funny...

[@swargpatel7634]

One of the most perplexing yet fascinating problems in science. I’ve personally always believed that we are the brain, and our body is just the machine our brain uses to interact with the world.

[@sivava1500]

Astonishing, i just felt it yesterday, and got it recommended today.

[@danilav2296]

I can tell this is gonna be the start of an existential crisis

[@heffthehecked]

video: you think it’s yours, and flinched when it’s threatened with a knife..! video: *knife sound* me: *gasp*

[@jagadishgospat2548]

*same bro, same*

[@hitchet]

*This is gold.* I love this topic a lot. There are always arguments for having/not having a soul. Pure philosophy. The sad part, I don't think we will really know the answer. At least, not our generation.

[@derbridderlechkeetvunwoure2493]

Hope we will, at least before death

[@prosperitygama9730]

Check out inspiring philosophy the KZbin channel

[@smears6039]

I’m pretty sure we’ve known that answer for awhile, and the answer is a “soul” was just our perception of consciousness. Hundreds of expensive studies have been done trying to find any proof of a “soul” and they’ve all concluded that a soul is just something we made up. But we have made tremendous advances in mapping the human brain in binary, and figuring out which areas of the brain control which functions!

[@mutabazimichael8404]

Really fascinating, would have also liked if you talked about the famous essay by Daniel Dennett "where am I" where his brain is put in a tube which is connected in a way to his body and throughout the essay he puzzle it out on if he is in the tube (as his brain) or outside (as his body)

[@atulkrsingh69]

Are You a Body with a Mind or a Mind with a body? Me: Yes.

[@minnermin]

I'm a thing looking through eyeballs

[@durratulaishah3703]

Like emotions in movie "Inside Out"?

[@permafrost8894]

Whats the thing

[@Libertad-bo6zp]

I always have the sensation that i look trough my eyes and not with them, so i could relate😅

[@alil3231]

@@permafrost8894 Ben Flamini

[@aashiyanaashfaqueiv-aroll-4131]

Me too

[@idktbhidc]

2:38 Everything in this world: i am not even here baby I am just an hallucination

[@Fido-vm9zi]

Outrageous question. Both, very obviously, and then some.

[@JFreitas0937]

I am personally both and neither

[@charlienordenhielm7974]

Joel0937 You seem to get it.

[@millianarakuzen]

quantum?

[@Fuar11]

Milliana Rakuzen yes

[@sea_triscuit7980]

Joel0937 the alpha and the Omega... the beginning and the end... -Liam Neeson

[@cocconoce]

And the cat is dead and alive

[@MrNilsenone]

The obvious answer is: "yes"

[@tuesdaywithanh]

Of course!

[@quasar1923]

@Rajeev Vij that's the joke

[@jayeshchouhan1880]

@Rajeev Vij I mean yes can be an answer. Why can't it be both?

[@AB-df2vv]

The obvious answer is and

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

250th like

[@ensarergin3779]

that`s a beautiful presentation 🙏

[@yashabeans]

i’m loving this video style

[@Shreymani2]

A ghost.. driving a meat coated skeleton.

[@lorenaduarte7423]

Well thats a way to put it...

[@dragonll6750]

@@lorenaduarte7423 that a great way to put it

[@thenacho6354]

Micheal Afton

[@brienmaybe.4415]

Except there is no ghost. There's no-thing at all driving you. Not a soul, not a meat encapsulated ego, nothing. There is litterly no you to which you speak of that drives you.

[@waso-suwi]

@@brienmaybe.4415 why did you spell nothing as no-thing?

[@manretify]

The body is a life support system for the brain. We are the brain.

[@user-lh8ej7oh5i]

Xi Jinping Listen to the Asian they are always right.

[@gregscotland1159]

And would you say that mind and brain are one and the same? I would beg to differ. How do you account for the existence of qualia from your stance (which thus far appears to be in line with the identity theory)? It seems unfeasible to me, and since qualia is essentially undeniable, I can't see how your explanation works. Also, consider these two scenarios, they may change your perception on theory of mind. First of all, imagine (hypothetically) that God created the world. He begins by creating the laws of physics and all of the objects that exist in the world, including the human body. The human body functions according the laws God has set in place. Now ask yourself, would god have to do anything more to create consciousness? If you would reply yes, then you would agree that mind and body (including brain) are not identical, and if you reply no, you would agree that they are identical (i.e. that there is no difference between them, they are one and the same thing in the way that the morning star and Venus are the same thing). Secondly, can you concieve of a person that has the same biological make up as everyone else, and interacts with the world in the way every one else does, and yet lacks consciousness? Or to go even further, can you concieve of yourself being the only person who is actually conscious? If you think yes to either of these, you will agree that mind and body are separate.

[@gregscotland1159]

Di Gallo I'm not gonna lie I have no idea what you are on about. I didn't mention solipsism or whatever this "higher consciousness" is. Sounds like you didn't really understand what I was saying. I was objecting to the idea that me and my brain are identical, in the sense that I (the mental) am indistinguishable from the brain. I presented these three objections to this point of view: 1) The explanatory gap. 2) conceivability of separate mental and brain states. 3) "Philosophical zombie" argument. I was simply arguing that I am not indistinguishable from my brain states. I do not know why solipsism or dualism or higher consciousness comes into this. Care to clear things up a bit?

[@lachlanpfeiffer8199]

Mind is the exact same as the brain, for which your views are founded upon the assumption that when you think of mind, you think of consciousness. If we define the central idea of Shannons entropy and Boltzmann's thought experiment of entropy toward the brain, we can define levels of consciousness mapped in 4 ranges of frequency, of certain brain states, and also considering the fact that mathematicians found the brain exists in up to 10 dimensions, using algebraic topology (for which I am proficient in), we can identify that merely the notion of neural oscillation determines fluctuations in entropy, which is correlated to the frequency. If we define entropy as energy added to a system that is not used by mechanical work, then by this very point the higher the level of consciousness the less mechanical work is being done, due to higher levels of brain function therefore by mathematics I have proved you wrong by induction.

[@polly4531]

Lachlan Pfeiffer wow that's a good commentary. Loved it.

[@hananeblm184]

These questions pop in my mind everytime I feel sad + the mind Vs heart thing

[@ruqiakhan3123]

I'll watch this two days from now, after I'm done with my exam. An existential crises is the last thing I need right now

[@MyThoughts19902X]

The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence -Nikola Tesla

[@marcgoce4020]

Well no one will probably even attempt becoz many people nowadays have been intellectually lackey and have been convinced by materialism and naturalism. They seem to forget that the universe holds not only what can be seen but also fragments of immaterial reality.

[@humanbeing1429]

@@marcgoce4020 I agree with you. Maybe if we all start looking beyond the material world, we could open doors to a vast expanse of undiscovered knowledge and change the world as we know it. And if the ultimate truth is discovered, whether it is "for" or "against" our current known theories, once the Absolution is confirmed, the universe will not be the same just within seconds of the TRUTH being discovered.

[@LolSnimci]

Fellinux Just stay objective,evolution,neuro science and meditation is the way.

[@alil3231]

@@marcgoce4020 "Seem to have forgotten" Most of them never believe.

[@TravisRyan9]

PoSeiDoN VeNuH This undiscovered Knowledge has been known knowledge among the occult circles for millennia now. Call it metaphysics, magic, whatever but there have been ancient texts that were adopted by the mystery schools describing the very fundamental processes and nature of the Universe. Much of what is written is only just now being discovered by modern science in the past decade. Science and materialists are gonna have to start branching out to other ideas of thought before they realize there’s a whole lot more to reality than what they think.

[@ruzantsu4147]

I love how I have asked myself these exact questions and now I have the answers to these questions ,I love Ted Ed.

[@Lifelikesky]

The music is beautiful in this, also a great video

[@PauloBomfimOficial]

I would recomend reading "The Spirit's Book", by Allan Kardec. It's from 1857 and studied events that answer that question. It's the base of Spiritsm and many other studies up to nowadays.

[@ojsimp14]

Have to rewatch this high...

[@srirangagopinathkoganti3351]

Zachary Chestnutt r

[@norhidayah7560]

Never think of this matters. Until.. KZbin recommendation show this.

[@rihemmiya3280]

😂

[@kimmson6356]

What you never did?

[@nguyenduyphuc3924]

This existential crisis was brought to you by: KZbin Recommendation, bringing you quality existential dreads eversince 2005.

[@liivemovement]

I’ve been watching a lot of your videos, and I love the content you guys produce! One observation I keep coming back to is the fact that René Descartes lived in the 1600s but the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin wasn’t manifested until nearly 200 years after. So as a support to the mind within body argument, I would say that Descartes wasn’t aware of how humans evolved over millions of years and therefore his claim is off-base. That’s not to say his contribution to philosophy as a whole was an extremely relevant and valid, but I would say within the scope of this particular argument, his assertion might be incorrect. But that’s just coming from an amateur philosopher 😅

[@_._._irenic]

The start “look at ur hands” just kindled my existential crisis, wow

[@douglasphillips5870]

We are the combination of mind and body. If you could upload your mind into a computer, the computer would be the body of the mind, and in the end it would be a different being.

[@anodyne9549]

Douglas Phillips If you upload your mind you would exist two times cause there would be no connection to your old mind

[@swimmingagainsttheti]

However in both case the "body" (human or computer) create the mind. The brain grows and developed to create our mind while (I assume) the computer would process code to create the mind. I think we are Body first then mind. Altering your brain (via drugs, physical alterations etc) can have massive implications on your mind (Personality, mobility etc). Assuming our minds would be constant (that is to say we have a defined personality), then the body creates the mind..

[@utopik1936]

Question. How do we know that this would make us a separate entity if we are simply transferring bodies? I mean, lots of reincarnation religions appear to believe that the mind (or soul) is *us*. So how would a transference of bodies change the mind/soul? I am simply posing a question, nothing further. No skepticism or invalidation of ideas intended.

[@anodyne9549]

Utopik "Just transfer bodies" As our bodies are linked with our perception of reality changing bodies would greatly change our mind as we would percept everything in another way. A computer cannot feel pain operates at a different speed than our brain all that would change our thinking

[@hey.aidid_]

Your body is the hardware and your mind is the software. Together both of these make everything happen.

[@emackb1457]

Aidid Rashed Efat a computer. Without the hardware there is nothing the software can do, but without the software the hardware is useless parts.

[@hey.aidid_]

Emack B Yes. So try to program your software in a good, efficient and beneficial way to drive hardware nicely.

[@hey.aidid_]

@The Bounty Hunters You brain is quite immune to diseases by the blood-brain barrier.

[@Desocupad0]

@@emackb1457 don't forget to be an organ donor.

[@emackb1457]

@@Desocupad0 lol i already am one….?

[@eladnanimohammedamine1271]

If u think mathematically u understand that it is the same since the relation "to be with" is a equivalence relation which means that it particularlly fullfills the symetric property: A is with B B is with A

[@janeausten9866]

The fact that I was thinking about the movie I,robot while trying to understand & in the end they mention I,robot. Literally gave me a sense of accomplishment

[@rubymimosa]

What a great way to distill this idea. ...And all that affects our mind and body and how we can actually decide this and find a way to make that work. I have a chronic and terminal illness. I know, barring extraordinary accident, what will kill me. So things like needing a knee replacement, which might ordinarily be considered important, aren't to me. My body carries *me* around, it isn't me. In the same way that I wouldn't replace a tire on a car when the engine won't start, I'm not worried about the leg. But even doctors can't seem to understand when I try to explain. This simple topic will help I'm sure. Thank you.

[@arsonist___]

Brain: CRISIS ALERT CRISIS ALERT! EXISTENTIAL CRISIS MISSILE HAS BREACHED MIND! TO PREVENT SEVERE IMPACT, WE HAVE CEASED BRAIN ACTIVITY Body: *collapsed, in an epileptic manner*

[@microsofterror880]

THATS SOME DEEP STUFF. I would really like to know more.. Im only twelve but these types of conversations excite me. Kind if like religion or recreation. I am always told i acted older than my age anf that sounds like reincarnation because my soul or mind knows mre from past life and experiences, but i was also told that there is god and that when i die, I'll go to heaven. I hope that i could find a way to know. But, only time will tell. Well, time to wait 90 years to see if there is any thing waiting for me or just a new life. BYE!

[@idealistsoul6715]

rubymimosa i think you are reincarnated i am Too we r just sensitive its a gift

[@ryanalving3785]

Unicorn MoMo If you would like to know, follow Jesus' admonition; "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Or that of James; "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." May you find the truth, and be set free. God bless you

[@oscarcorona3625]

If you are interested in more you should read Mcmahan view on brain death or look up his examples. It may be a hard read if youre 12 but it is a great new-ish work on this topic

[@jessicaleblanc9908]

if the GTA characters were so advance that they could think, they would never understand why they live in such a violent world. some would become scientist and figure out they are constructed of tiny ones and zeros - they would never be able to physically see their creator. They wouldn't understand there are many copies of the same universe and they could never cross to another universe - aka another copy of GTA running on another device.

[@humanbeing1429]

Dayummmm that made my head spin in amazement.

[@anoopjacob5664]

what do you smoke ;D

[@nofanfelani6924]

Then i would log in to my GTA game, teaching those NPC about religion, and become a famous prophet.... Or ended up getting crucified by mobs. All for laugh and giggles.

[@R.raman-xz9xy]

😂😂😂😂

[@hyunjinworlddomination1116]

uh-

[@bendahara8284]

I used to have like an existential crisis when I was a kid. I kept thinking about why I'm inside this body, am I real, etc. And then I got scared😂 so I'll try to relax myself and let the thoughts go away.

[@renuelcruz9065]

Awesome to get the knowledge

[@youdeservetobehappynow7584]

This is my favorite Ted Ed. Wonderful. I love this. Our bodies are still mysterious, we may claim that our body is truly ours but I guess our minds creates everything and there are a lot of possibilities

[@enzopena1875]

When i was super high on lsd (took 2 entire tabs) i started to feel only as a mind, like my body was a completly separated tool that helped me to reach for things, give me plasure, survive in the world, so thats what i think about my body, i think its a tool

[@IolcanPK]

There is a book written by a neuroscientist, called "Descartes's Error" and it talks about how body, brain and mind are inextricably linked.

[@norahmahusain6102]

Thank you so much. 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

[@cheynneweimer2830]

This is so beautifully done

[@rosellecarmen3683]

Whether virtual, yours or not, our minds requires a body. The mind will adapt to that body. That is why the rubber hand trick works.

[@BizzarreProductions]

No Body Because when your arm is numb, you don’t automatically assume that your arm doesn’t exist any more. The rubber hand trick probably works because a primitive part of your mind believes that the fake arm is your real limb, but numbed/injured. We recoil from the knife because we have an instinct to preserve our bodies even while injured and numb.

[@hajdjaahfjaj1398]

Consciousness is like a computer than needs a transmitter, which is our brain, to work and process information correctly and precisely.

[@malinisinha5197]

That's what Hinduism means when it says that rebirth exist and people go on from the crudest to the most sophisticated bodies. Each level up and your mind matters more . I think liberation means being completely free from bodies . ( Mind here is a fusion of what we perceive as mind and what we perceive as soul ) .

[@kalli_technis5520]

It takes " it's all in the mind" to another level.

[@shashanktripathi9346]

Advaita Vedanta , a major philosophical sect of Hinduism has debated upon this topic very extensively and has got some brilliant explanations about the state of being of humans. Reminded me of a lecture I attended about the Advaita philosophy . 🎉 .

[@julzreb9720]

This is beautiful. I hope this could have been discussed in a deeper context. But it is enough to stimulate our desire to know more! Thank you, TED-Ed! :)

[@onyx_vii7808]

Neither. We're all in the Matrix. None of you are real.

[@lukasroth9735]

Onyx VII7 but are we in the matrix or is the matrix in us ?

[@SegiNaShka]

Man of culture, I see.

[@xuau208]

Onyx VII7 who's the chosen one? D.j.Trump?

[@buttonsmasher1072]

I am in the Matrix. You all are merely fake

[@ultima5299]

I am the chosen one. I am beginning to believe.

[@trex5863]

Best video of Ted ed . My respect to animators and other associated people...

[@shakespearaamina9117]

Fascinating ❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹🙏 Thank you

[@333ryansmith]

are we living in a simulation or real life?

[@g3rmainh3rnand3z9]

Ryan Smith who knows?

[@badgirlgigix3]

how can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real?

[@johnsontan345]

because mirrors too, can be stimulated, as well as our interactions with it.

[@Ahmed-vk8pv]

It doesn't matter. If it's a simulation, then it's too perfect that we couldn't break it over countless years of innovation.

[@ancm19]

Read about quantum physics maybe you will get some answers

[@jsuisdetrop]

Literally this question becomes rather superfluous and more properly understood as banal if you had proper understood Heidegger's Being of Dasein as Being-in-the-world.

[@saeyi8961]

The animation is so clear

[@awakenedauras11]

In 1897, American psychologist William James suggested the “transmission theory” of mind, in which the brain is merely a mediator in the action of a mother-sea of consciousness which lies above it. This is similar to the mechanism that has been described above and is opposed to the “production theory”, prevalent in current Western psychology and philosophy discourse, which suggests that the brain produces consciousness.

[@tusharzala8035]

Noticed:The video is so deep/fascinating that people will leave comment section after while.. That's why some interesting/long comments later got no likes.. Edit: Scroll down..you won't see any video which has such long comments from many peoples

[@unknownfilter3556]

I used to think about this sometime but I came to the answer for myself without watching some video and I’m a mind with a body for the very simple reason of I’m feeling

[@ea8529]

Amazing how in time we can replace every part of our body.

[@nylakiriyuin1946]

"We can't imagine our body just going away" Except when I disassociate

[@athena4838]

😔😔Stay strong💙

[@lovejeetgehlot1433]

My argument with the hand experiment is that it is not the spontaneous reaction to the knife hitting the fake hand, but the mere possibility of you doing the same to the real hand. You do not want to take the chance. Just like a scenario where your friend acts like he is throwing something at you and the tendency of your mind is to dodge.

[@thestickmanchannel8589]

yeah aye that makes sense maybe your mind just makes associations and assumes the knife will strike your real hand aswell not the fact of the knife striking the fake hand

[@Gameorama91]

Yeah the argument would've made sense if they were ONLY stroking the fake hand. But because they were doing the same thing to our real hand AND the fake hand, it's more of "you've been doing the things you did to the fake hand to my real hand, how do I know you won't use the knife on it as well?"

[@berliant7121]

I've never click as faster as this before when I see a video title. Interesting topic, indeed.

[@haileyv-log2326]

GREAT.Now im obsessed with this

[@oceanstaiga5928]

When I was a kid I wondered about this a lot. I felt like if I questioned in my head repeatedly who I am that I was slowly separating from my body and felt like it didn’t belong to me, I’m just inside of it somehow having control over it. It really felt like i could exit my body to some extend because I was just a mind with a body and not the body. Sadly it doesn’t feel like that anymore now in the sense that I can’t feel myself exiting anymore.

[@siddharth224]

When you are kid what you feel was not mind completely its the consciousness.

[@r.a4623]

@@siddharth224 can you expand on that please? why not the mind? why it's consciousness as a kid ?

[@siddharth224]

@@r.a4623 cuz mind is nothing but thoughts , what you are calling mind in your experience was consciousness which is pure form of life ,source of everything and same in everyone ,but the experience of leaving body etc ,all these happens in brain ,what you are actually is consciousness, that BEING.

[@MegaKarume]

Thank you for this insightful video...

[@Blackmagic2913]

You’re welcome

[@user-cj2tx5tm4s]

Though I prefer to believe that we might be a mind with a body -- partly because I don't really want to believe that I could never come back to the world again once I die -- the idea that we might be a body with a mind also sounds intriguing, because that might suggest that if we make something(or maybe anything) complex and well structured enough, we might actually make a being with a mind. Thank you for the good video.

[@rayabeesandwich9326]

Very informative.

[@helloiamthechosenone]

I remember when I dislocated my elbow when I was 17. I was put under some opiod when they were putting it back and experienced crazy hillucinations, with my own thinking within them, maybe somewhat transient, but still I was my own person in a new world, thinking about everything I had once known as the world possibly not existing anymore, and I was a little scared, and ran into new dreamy abyss and thought about my family and close friends as something of the past, seeing wild imagery and all of that. I was like a vivid lucid dream out of nowhere. Meanwhile while this was happening in my internal consiousness I was apparently completely responsive to what they were doing in the operating room, screaming yelling and twisting from the pain, as if I was on no medication at all. It's like I became 2 individuals at the same time. Reminds me of how we can sometimes talk and move in our sleep and experience lucid dreams. It makes me sad to think about how that happens to opiod addicts who might be experiencing the same thing, trapped in a cycle of escape from their harsh world, and addicted to this escape.

[@patricklubbers2885]

:(

[@patmccarthy3793]

duh, both. While the pessimist and optimist argued about the glass being half empty or half full, the opportunist drank it!

[@reda29100]

Food for thought.. We eat to live, not vice versa sir.

[@mariafe7050]

@@reda29100 They mean the same thing dummy.

[@owwn1237]

if your thanos you say perfectly balanced

[@kardelenkoc9746]

i need books about this subject and similar phylosophical subjects

[@bensartakamcas1n126]

5:15 I am sure one of my teachers would be delighted to have a power like this one