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Who are you?
Feral
ＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＲＩＺＡＲＤinterior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
ＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＲＩＺＡＲＤinterior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
This is a genuine question, and one that I have asked the forums before. But I have gotten older and so have the forums, so I want to pose the question again.
Are you what you produce? (ie, your profession?) What if you get laid off, or just retire early? If you produce nothing, does that mean you're worthless as a human being? Are you a human being or a human doing? What if you are disabled, mentally or physically, and it is a struggle for you to simply be independent? Isn't that worth something?
Are you what you consume? We are here, on Penny-Arcade, by virtue of being geeks: by that I mean that 'geeks' consume geek culture - comic books, video games, role-playing games, etc. And I realized that I do somewhat define myself by what I consume; my music collection, my book collection, my movie collection, etc. are all reflections upon me. That is unsatisfying to me, in a Fight-Club-esque way. To paraphrase and conflate a few separate but related passages: you are not your sofa, you are not your bedspread, you are not your clever Ikea table.
Are you how you act? Action is determined by situation - in a different situation I might act differently.
What you say? Speech is a negotiation between speaker and audience - my speech is determined as much by who is listening as what I'm thinking.
What you think? Thought is a sandbox in which open possibilities reign. None of these things define me.
Some people define themselves by their group membership: black or white, Pinoy or Vietnamese, gay or straight, male or female, Catholic or Protestant, Democrat or Republican, Giants fan or Dodgers fan. Hell, in my town, some people define themselves by what neighborhood they live in (as if they think that I don't know that they jumped on the first reasonably-priced apartment that offered them a vacancy).
Thus I pose the question to each forumer: what defines you? If God, a space alien, your therapist, your one true love, or the hypothetical proxy of your choice, asked you, "Who are you?" What would you say?
In other words, who do you think you are?
And since it's been three years since I last asked this question of the forums: how do you think that self-identification has changed?
Are you what you produce? (ie, your profession?) What if you get laid off, or just retire early? If you produce nothing, does that mean you're worthless as a human being? Are you a human being or a human doing? What if you are disabled, mentally or physically, and it is a struggle for you to simply be independent? Isn't that worth something?
Are you what you consume? We are here, on Penny-Arcade, by virtue of being geeks: by that I mean that 'geeks' consume geek culture - comic books, video games, role-playing games, etc. And I realized that I do somewhat define myself by what I consume; my music collection, my book collection, my movie collection, etc. are all reflections upon me. That is unsatisfying to me, in a Fight-Club-esque way. To paraphrase and conflate a few separate but related passages: you are not your sofa, you are not your bedspread, you are not your clever Ikea table.
Are you how you act? Action is determined by situation - in a different situation I might act differently.
What you say? Speech is a negotiation between speaker and audience - my speech is determined as much by who is listening as what I'm thinking.
What you think? Thought is a sandbox in which open possibilities reign. None of these things define me.
Some people define themselves by their group membership: black or white, Pinoy or Vietnamese, gay or straight, male or female, Catholic or Protestant, Democrat or Republican, Giants fan or Dodgers fan. Hell, in my town, some people define themselves by what neighborhood they live in (as if they think that I don't know that they jumped on the first reasonably-priced apartment that offered them a vacancy).
Thus I pose the question to each forumer: what defines you? If God, a space alien, your therapist, your one true love, or the hypothetical proxy of your choice, asked you, "Who are you?" What would you say?
In other words, who do you think you are?
And since it's been three years since I last asked this question of the forums: how do you think that self-identification has changed?
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Feral on
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On a more productive note:
I am the sum of everything I've produced, consumed, said, thought, heard, done and experienced in my life.
I'm a cripple, a wife, a Classicist, a doctoral researcher, an academic, a geek, a nerd, a bibliophile, English, daughter, sister, posh, middle-class, a home owner, friend, gamer, a girl, a news-junkie, a PA forumer, and other things, I suppose (though I can't think of them at the moment).
I rather like this answer.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Only a year or two ago did I start thinking about what I wanted to be instead. I've created borders of things I did not want to be, but that still leaves me with a lot of space of what I do want to define myself by. I guess it takes a lifetime to define yourself or come up with even a vague answer to "who are you", but so far I think being my own biggest critic and always trying to be the reliable one are the two traits I've honed the most so far. Of course I'm also a geographer, heritage specialist, gamer, MMO aficionado, papercrafter, son, tall, Dutch and small town boy, along some other stuff I probably forgot.
(Ignoring my negative traits here, those aren't fun)
Things like work, interests, etc. certainly affect this amalgamation of variables that shape what I am, but the whole is something more than the sum of its parts. There is the inner me, which is mutable, but more or less constant, and then the projected outer me, which changes depending on who or what I am interacting with, sometimes consciously, but more often than not subconsciously. All these perceptions, in addition to my own perception are what I am.
Whoever you want me to be. [/The OC]
I believe you are defined by action - you did say that in a different situation you might do things differently, but to me that is the whole point of it: to perform actions that are tremendously cloudy in a definitional sense, and by doing said unsexy actions day after day begin to shear great tufts of fluff and confusion away from that cloud, to eventually hone your existential proclivities. To do a different action in a different scenario - that in itself is defining as well.
But who I am and what I am defined by seem to be different things. What defines me, is superficially the more socially relevant (and easier) question to ask.
If I had to be pedantically philosophical to the interviewer, I would say who I am is a question of infinitely fleeting relevance. I'd throw out a Ship of Theseus reference, maybe. I know that physically, neurologically, emotionally, I change from one moment to the next. Memories are fluid, mental capacity known to ebb. If what my reality is is essentially meaningless and constantly in flux; a stable idea of what it is perceived as (what defines me?)must then supersede the question of who I merely am, for sake of convenience and epistemological dithering. So "Who are you?", for all my intents and purposes, would be interpreted by me as "What defines you?" as you suggested in the quoted section above.
I guess you're also looking for an answer of that question too. My narcissistic side will gladly oblige.
I'm 21 and American. I think that age and location gives a decent approximation of what to expect in terms of aspirations/material wealth/hobbies. I'm also a human being, with all of the complexities that entails. I think those three things define 99.99% of me, being human most of all.
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
To these two my opinion is; You are only defined by these as much as you let yourself be, or decide to be. If you are only interested in the things you consume or produce then I think you can say these things define you. From what I've experience of the world the people are much more dynamic than that.
I don't believe what you say is a definite factor to who you are, I do believe though that it plays a large role in how people view though. Depending on how much others' opinions mean to you I think determines how much this question can be used to help define a person.
What was said above can be applied to this question but, I think how you act offers more personal satisfaction and insight than what you say. As in, deciding if your actions make you a good or bad person. That's something that others can influence but it's also something that you can decide for yourself.
I think this question is what would describe a person most. Regardless of how you act, speak, consume, or produce your thoughts are what drive you towards any of those and what make you a person.
When it comes to how I answer to all that. I'm not sure what to say when someone asks me who I am, besides to say me. I wouldn't expect a difference answer from anyone else. The human mind seems to be too complex, and thefore the persona of a person, to describe with any number of adjectives. Yeah you're a geek, a mom, a son, a daughter, a rocket scientist, a cook, a garbage man, but all these terms are to vague to really describe any person.
Battle.net: Matt 3999 or iammattpleevee@gmail.com
PSN?: iammattpleevee
JUST A SMALL TOWN GIRL
LIVIN IN A LONELY WOOOORLD
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
Mother fuckin' Highwayman.
Alternatively: Spartacus.
next?
kpop appreciation station i also like to tweet some
alternatively: Your father. /Vader
I am who I choose to be, I can change myself with no more than a thought.
I am what I had to be, I never had a choice but to be this shape, think these thoughts, walk this path in front of me.
I am unique, like paint on a canvas the parts are familiar, but their arrangement has never existed before and will never exist again.
I am not defined by other minds, but through knowing other minds I come to define myself.
And apparently I'm in a poetic mood.
When I'm at my best anyway. I am my character, my collection of virtues and vices.
I use to define myself by what I'm into (generally, a nerd). But over the last few months I realize that I more of define myself by what I am not, in comparison to the people I choose to surround myself with. I take a lot of value in how I differ from everyone else, and have a lot of value in the times when I'm at odds with those I would consider friends or those I'm around daily. I don't seek being at odds, mind you, I just have a lot of conviction and don't feel the need to buckle just because I want to fit in. Which I do, but our differences in life should be something we all adjust to with each other.
On a steel horse I ride.
I guess I see myself as a problem-solving machine? That's a bit too simplistic, and can't really apply to many situations such as social ones (you can't tackle the problem of mating and hanging out with one's buddies through the scientific method, IMO, pick-up-artists notwithstanding). I suppose a better definition would be that I'm someone who enjoys problems and solving them. The way this bleeds into my personal space is that I spend a lot of time finding dilemmas and thinking them over.
This ignores large segments of the human experience, such as sex. I have what I'd consider a moderately active sex drive, and certainly enjoy it, but I suppose I don't see it as such an integral part of who I am as, for instance, some people I've encountered in the BDSM circles.
I suppose I chose what aspects of my persona to cultivate based on my career choice. Similarly I can see others doing the same based on being a parent, through their hobby, being a 24/7 bottom, whatever. An interesting question is how people end up where they do, which is part of what this thread attempts to probe (?).
Is 'me' the set of assumptions and guidelines that choose which action I'm to take in any given situation, or is it the aggregate sum of those choices and their consequences? A bit from column A, a bit from column B?
But their opinions of you will only be reflections of themselves and what their own thoughts are, ultimately telling us more about them (what they like/don't like in other people, etc.) than about you.
So your question is, in a sense, a category error.
Also, I've been told repeatedly that I'm the whitest guy you know.
it's interesting how malleable Self is, as people are saying above. If you ask a Stanford prison question, you get a Stanford prison answer.
Personally, I used to put a lot of weight on connoisseurship of whatever I was into at the moment -- all-over paintings and obtuse electronic music and things like that. I defined myself by what I loved, which I suppose is not the worst starting place. It's hard not to go rabble rabble consumerism as rarified pseudo-artform sometimes, but people can do worse than becoming very carefully calibrated tools to measure different excellences.
I've never had a job I cared about, and increasingly I want to get back into art, but everything I do seems sub-par and thus insufficient as a foundation for "I am this action _____" which seems cool and dynamic and active to me, but I suppose is terribly boring to people who are known for some good or service and want to be known as patient souls or generous givers or kindly to kittens.
Lately I am: the way my body moves when I walk attentively vs. inattentively, more integrated dancing, ease of laughter.
Feral, I'm fascinated by how similar this question sounds to the ever-popular "What do you do?" yet how different it actually is.
That's all that matters, in the end.
But anyway, I'm just a pile of delicious meats responding to events as they come. Whoever I am today will cease to be by tomorrow as new information comes in. I have a core collection of incidents that are reflected in my current self and my future self, but those can all be overridden given enough events, particularly the one where the meats become the dirts.
An introvert and a daydreamer by nature. A scientist by training.
Pan Narrans.
I would suggest not being defined by anti-.
The sense of self we experience is mostly a matter of culture, as in there are cultures that are more focused on the entire group before the individual is even considered.
Who doesn't enjoy an engaging yarn?
Also, I don't ask this question because I think there's a single right way to answer, and I don't think that any incomplete answers are wrong simply because they're incomplete.
I like seeing how this question is shaped by the person answering it. "I'm a game developer" vs "I'm a gamer" are both valid answers; "I'm a patient soul" or "I am kindly to kittens" are also valid answers. So were all of Adam Sandler's answers in that clip.
Is this where I link one of those Cracked articles on how it takes 10,000 hours of doing something before you master it and say, "Well, once you've clocked 10,000 hours making art, you get to call yourself an artist?"
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
But I'm not sure I'm buying it.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
who who?
I really want to know.