We Not I

"Late at night, when deciding not to bother setting up the coffee machine for the next morning, I sometimes think of the man who will wake up as a different person, and wonder, What did he ever do for me? When I get up and there’s no coffee ready, I curse the lazy bastard who shirked his duties the night before."

This is a wondefully written, funny and idea-dense article from The Atlantic about "The Self". It's one of those rare articles that feels like a distillation of a 700 page non-fiction book. I've been thinking about this stuff for a long time- since reading Marvin Minsky's "The Society of Mind", Douglas Hofstaedter, and more recently Steven Pinker on "split brain" patients (those whose left and right hemispheres have been surgically disconnected).

Who I Think I Am and Who I Really Am

Obviously there is a 'disconnect' between who we think we are- and who we actually are. For example, i think i'm a fun loving intellectual bon-vivant and racounteur when in fact i'm an overprotective whining killjoy : "careful you don't slice your finger off accidentally whilst you're cutting that cheese" and "i'm going to have a shower now- okay?". Not "fusilli"- "penne"!
When i buy the New-Yorker Magazine at airport newsagents (i do so ostentatiously - perhaps people think i am an urbane gentleman who will fly there today and need to know "what's on"). I read it smugly, knowing i am an intellectual and YET .. when i get to the end of the magazine i start to find little ads that disturb me. What would i want with a bean-bag, a treatment for erectile dysfunction, a self-help book etc? Not a Rolex-Jaguar ad to be found. And yet, as i am reminded, "marketing types" know their audience better than anyone. ..hmmmm