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Who Am I?! - Some thoughts on Personal Identity

2016-01-08 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning · mode: Personal essay

Hank argues the self is a subjective story shaped largely by others' expectations; labels and tests are useful tools but not walls, and people keep becoming someone new, which he finds wonderful.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Opening questions: who am I, which version of me is real, am I the same after sleep

  • ★★ Hank asks who he is, whether others see him differently, which version is more him, and whether he is the same person after sleeping. — 00:00:09

00:00:20 — Hank's comic list of labels for himself; the BuzzFeed quiz says Miranda Sings; at 35 he still doesn't know who he is

  • ★ Hank lists labels for himself: heterosexual white cis male, Taurus, ENFP, Montanan, American, book lover, no tattoos. (playful) — 00:00:20 · Montana
  • ★★ Hank says he thinks climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. (hedged) — 00:00:29 · climate change
  • ★ Hank took a BuzzFeed quiz on which YouTuber he is, with himself among the options, and got Miranda Sings. (playful) — 00:00:37
  • ★★ Hank, now 35, says he expected someone his age to know who he is, but he does not. — 00:00:47

00:00:55 — The self as a story; who he is depends on others' expectations; the glasses-and-intelligence theory; trying to deserve viewers' trust

  • ★★★ Hank says personality tests cannot change that the self is a story he tells himself: subjective, incomplete and at least a little bit of a lie. — 00:01:07

    “myself is just a story that I tell to myself”

  • ★★★ Hank says his values and cares are real but not inborn; he has not always been this self, and who he is has largely depended on what people expect of him. — 00:01:23

  • ★★ Hank says there is an unexplained link between bad eyesight and intelligence; his favourite theory is that children in glasses look smart, are expected to be smart, and become smart. (hedged) — 00:01:35
  • ★★ Hank says it is well known that believing a child is intelligent makes the child more intelligent, even when the belief was falsely planted. — 00:01:55
  • ★★ Hank says many people watch his videos and respect and trust him, so he tries to become worthy of that, though not all the time. — 00:02:03
  • ★★ Hank says sometimes he is down to clown and sometimes introspective; he craves consistency in himself, but his self denies him that simplicity. — 00:02:13

00:02:20 — Quizzes, tests and horoscopes as pale reflections; no Platonic ideal self; 'be yourself' is not advice; tools not walls; becoming many people

  • ★★ Hank says books, BuzzFeed quizzes, personality tests and horoscopes tell us who we might be, but are pale reflections of the weird, complex self. — 00:02:25
  • ★★★ Hank says there is no Platonic ideal self beneath the gunk; finding who you are means sorting expectation-driven bits, bits to change and bits you cherish. — 00:02:45
  • ★★ Hank says telling people to 'be yourself' is not advice. (playful) — 00:03:06
  • ★★ Hank says the tools we use to define ourselves are fine as tools but are not walls to box ourselves in with. — 00:03:13
  • ★★★ Hank says you will keep waking up as a different you until you die, which is wonderful: why be one person when you can be many; scarier, but fun. — 00:03:21

Humor (significant)

  • Hank lists the labels that describe him. — 00:00:33

    “I'm an entrepreneur, a YouTuber, a Slytherclaw, and I am Divergent.”

  • Hank took a BuzzFeed quiz on which YouTuber he is, with himself among the options. — 00:00:41

    “you guessed it: Miranda Sings”

  • Hank extends 'until the cows come home' to describe taking endless personality tests. — 00:00:58

    “until the cows have baby cows, and then those baby cows have their own baby cows and those third-generation cows finally come home.”

  • Hank considers people who tell you to 'be yourself' and expect it to mean something. — 00:03:06

    “That is not advice, that's an existential crisis waiting too happen.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: personal identity

Also: Works: Divergent

Organizations: BuzzFeed

Concepts: astrology · climate change · existential crisis · personality test · self-fulfilling prophecy · theory of forms

Places: Montana

Characters: Miranda Sings · Ravenclaw (“Slytherclaw”) · Slytherin (“Slytherclaw”)

Also centred on personal identity: We're all Scared · The Space Time Continuum: Thoughts from Dublin · Becoming Someone Else · Can You Ever Really Change? · Are We The Same Person? · NOW I AM THE SCIENCE ONE…

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