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1. 0:00Are you the same person you were 10
2. 0:02years ago? In the 20th century, a
3. 0:04British philosopher deeply challenged
4. 0:07our way of thinking about identity. His
5. 0:10name was Derek Parfit, and his thesis
6. 0:12is: "What we call the self does not
7. 0:15really exist." At first glance, this
8. 0:18idea may seem absurd. Of course you are
9. 0:20the same person you were 10 years ago.
10. 0:22You have the same body, the same name,
11. 0:25the same brain. And yet, Parfit tells
12. 0:27us, the answer is far from being so
13. 0:29simple. Why? Because what makes you,
14. 0:32you, is not something fixed. These are
15. 0:36elements that evolve over time: your
16. 0:38memories, your personality, your
17. 0:41opinions. In other words, you are not
18. 0:44an immutable entity, you are a process.
19. 0:47Parfit calls this the R-relation. The
20. 0:50R-relation is the set of psychological
21. 0:53connections that link your mental
22. 0:56states over time, your thoughts, your
23. 0:58goals, your beliefs. As long as this
24. 1:01relation is strong enough, you feel
25. 1:03like you are the same person. For
26. 1:06example, the you of last week is very
27. 1:08close to the you of today. On the other
28. 1:11hand, the you of 10 years ago, of 20
29. 1:14years ago, and even more so, the you as
30. 1:16a child, is much more distant. Your
31. 1:19ideas have changed, your personality
32. 1:21has evolved, and your priorities are no
33. 1:23longer the same. In other words, the
34. 1:26further back in time you go, the weaker
35. 1:28the R-relation becomes. And if the
36. 1:30R-relation weakens to the point of
37. 1:33disappearing completely, then it no
38. 1:35longer really makes sense to say it is
39. 1:37the same person. If Parfit is right,
40. 1:40then the consequences are dizzying. Why
41. 1:44place so much importance on your future
42. 1:46self if that future self will no longer
43. 1:49be you? Why be obsessed with your past
44. 1:52self if the person you were no longer
45. 1:55exists? So, the next time you wonder if
46. 1:59you have changed or think about who you
47. 2:02will be in 10, 15, or 20 years, keep in
48. 2:05mind that this self you cling to so
49. 2:07much might be nothing more than a story
50. 2:10you tell yourself.