Holy shit! I'm glad that I was listening to this at 1 am on a day that was mentally tiring. Such an existential thought, if on a morning, would have sent me into some deep rabbit holes. I still went in. LLM's are just beautiful.
Like what Amal has mentioned I went into looking at identity being a collection of meme packets. Memes apparently are being shaped by desires (memetic theory) environment and the society. And Identity is just a wrap over the ego "I". If ego dissolution happens (eg rush of serotonin from a heroic dose) identity also dissolves, and mostly changes it after the event.
Identity seems like it is not one's own to make. It could be an outcome of "free will", of what all memes to pick and choose, but not really ones own. Fucking disappointing!
The idea that we are nothing but mere observers is making a bit of sense now. What else is there other than few shots of chemical cocktails in the brain based on perception of stimuli. Training for selection of which ones to make internally seems better than orchestrating a whole act externally for producing them - the identity.
Such a disappointing thought, yet interesting. But, I guess we must continue the act.
That’s interesting take. Identity is wrapper around ego. And the ego dissolution and by that the identity itself could be the reason why Silicon Valley bros are all into Ayahausca or some shit.
Yeah, identity does seem like out of one’s control or “free will”😅
Really liked this post, Ganesh. It got me thinking about how we’re always being told to act like who we want to become—"fake it till you make it" kind of thing. And after a point, that act becomes the version people see. We start building these identities—sigma this, bad boy that, intellectual genius—and keep performing them till we forget where it even began.
That “naming is an act of power” bit stuck with me. Because yeah, what we call ourselves—consciously or not—shapes how we move. I think what matters is whether we’re willing to shift or break those identities when they stop fitting. Being able to rebuild that frame feels like real maturity to me… though I’ve got my own mixed thoughts on what maturity even means :)
First, that's a great perspective of 'fake it till you make it' on identity. Second, I just love the last line of the first paragraph. "...keep performing them till we gorget where it all began"...that's gold.
Yeah, that willingness and the effort required to make that change to identity or like you have said in a better way, "rebuild that frame"...that's difficult but necessary I guess.
P.S: "naming is an act of power", I heard it from none other than 'Madhusudan Mukherjee' :)
I can’t forget him because the SLA course really impacted my grades. After some great weekend sessions, I thoroughly enjoyed the final task. However, I ended up missing an "h" in his email address during the final submission, which transformed his name from "Madhu" to "Mad u" for me!
Holy shit! I'm glad that I was listening to this at 1 am on a day that was mentally tiring. Such an existential thought, if on a morning, would have sent me into some deep rabbit holes. I still went in. LLM's are just beautiful.
Like what Amal has mentioned I went into looking at identity being a collection of meme packets. Memes apparently are being shaped by desires (memetic theory) environment and the society. And Identity is just a wrap over the ego "I". If ego dissolution happens (eg rush of serotonin from a heroic dose) identity also dissolves, and mostly changes it after the event.
Identity seems like it is not one's own to make. It could be an outcome of "free will", of what all memes to pick and choose, but not really ones own. Fucking disappointing!
The idea that we are nothing but mere observers is making a bit of sense now. What else is there other than few shots of chemical cocktails in the brain based on perception of stimuli. Training for selection of which ones to make internally seems better than orchestrating a whole act externally for producing them - the identity.
Such a disappointing thought, yet interesting. But, I guess we must continue the act.
That’s interesting take. Identity is wrapper around ego. And the ego dissolution and by that the identity itself could be the reason why Silicon Valley bros are all into Ayahausca or some shit.
Yeah, identity does seem like out of one’s control or “free will”😅
But like Dory said, “just keep swimming”, I guess
Really liked this post, Ganesh. It got me thinking about how we’re always being told to act like who we want to become—"fake it till you make it" kind of thing. And after a point, that act becomes the version people see. We start building these identities—sigma this, bad boy that, intellectual genius—and keep performing them till we forget where it even began.
That “naming is an act of power” bit stuck with me. Because yeah, what we call ourselves—consciously or not—shapes how we move. I think what matters is whether we’re willing to shift or break those identities when they stop fitting. Being able to rebuild that frame feels like real maturity to me… though I’ve got my own mixed thoughts on what maturity even means :)
First, that's a great perspective of 'fake it till you make it' on identity. Second, I just love the last line of the first paragraph. "...keep performing them till we gorget where it all began"...that's gold.
Yeah, that willingness and the effort required to make that change to identity or like you have said in a better way, "rebuild that frame"...that's difficult but necessary I guess.
P.S: "naming is an act of power", I heard it from none other than 'Madhusudan Mukherjee' :)
haha!
I can’t forget him because the SLA course really impacted my grades. After some great weekend sessions, I thoroughly enjoyed the final task. However, I ended up missing an "h" in his email address during the final submission, which transformed his name from "Madhu" to "Mad u" for me!
Haha 😂