The notion called "I"

There have been innumerable attempts through out history in the fields of theology, philosophy, science etc to explain what is "I/Me". While theologians and mystics attributed a transcendental nature to this "I" by calling it the "Soul" and even making it equivalent to their "God", and philosophers complicated it and confused us further by breaking it into Id, Ego and super ego, scientists for the most part kept mum. Deep down they had this strong feeling that the very nature of functioning of the brain gives rise to an area in the brain where disparate sensual inputs are stitched together which helps us make sense of the reality around us.

I believe the last view is the closest to reality. The notion "I" is the name given to our consciousness. Consciousness can be described as the interaction or mashing up of all your Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Somatosensory inputs and each of their respective short term context and long term experiences/memories formed after they have been processed through your neocortex (part of the brain where most of the learning  activity happens contrasting with the "old brain" which we have received from primates and is responsible for basic emotions like love, fear, desire etc) . This neocortex is the differentiating aspect of humans that enabled them to develop languages, form complex societies and do creative stuff.  Neuroscience findings suggest that the organ where this mish-mashing of your life happens is the Hippocampus. If this organ is damaged a person goes in to a vegetative state or otherwise known as coma. In other words the person loses his "I". For a more interesting read on the brain and especially the neocortex I would suggest you pickup the book "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins (founder of Palm Computers).

I will try to take you through a thought experiment where you will be able to appreciate this view and may be realize that there is nothing special about the notion called "I".

For a moment get in to a third person mode and look at your own life. (the ability to do this is an amazing feature of our brain that further confuses us in to believing that there is and different "I" inside our body). A child is born with no conscience (people have no memory of their life for the first 1-1.5 years of life). The memories and experiences it accumulates over this period of time develop in to some kind of a unique singular perspective of the world around it. The kind of upbringing and genetics play an important role as to how and what that child views in the world around it. After some time it gains full conscience i.e. develop a nearly full construct representing the world around it inside its brain and develops a world view of its own and starts referring to this unique perspective of itself as I/Me. There is nothing real about that feeling called "I" prior to its birth or during the initial phase of development. 

Now imagine there is a way to make this experience sharable. If there is a way that all the people on this planet could suddenly start sharing their experiences right from birth. Then there really would no longer be a notion called "I" in anyone's brain, there would only be "We" which is the collective perspective of the world around all the people. See how flexible this notion "I" can be, after all its just a representation of things around us.

Update: I recently came across an article which says the following:
1. There is a recent discovery that says each hemisphere of the brain has its own memory storage
2. There have been experiments with patients who have undergone surgery where the two hemispheres of the brain are separated — and each hemisphere appears to be its own, separate self
3. This led Nicolla Webber to an interesting thought experiment whereby a person with their hemispheres severed could actually be convinced that they were two separate people


This thought experiment goes the other way and divides the consciousness rather than integrate everyone's consciousness in to single experience like I suggested. 

The most important thing here is that you realize that the brain forms a construct of the world around you and the happenings in it with the filter called "I". This construct of the universe around you is only available for You to experience. There is no way for you to have two lives or two experiences at the same time, it is singular and situated in your brain. This tricks you in to believing in the existence of a transcendental and independent entity called "I".

This is not a reductionist view of what I am. This realization about "I" does not take away my humanity in anyway. I still enjoy the freshness of cold breeze in the morning, the taste of chocolate in my mouth, the satisfaction of writing this blog etc.  This realization only allows me to truly fathom the bizarreness of the universe and our existence in it. We no longer need to waste our time and resources in superstitions and resorting to religion and god men to allay our fears of the (nonexistent) "afterlife". This realization will truly lead to the advancement of the human race.