The Self Illusion
Books | Medical / Neuroscience
4
Bruce Hood
Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we? The idea of a "self" has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this notion of the independent, coherent self is an illusion - it is not what it seems. Reality as we perceive it is not something that objectively exists, but something that our brains construct from moment to moment, interpreting, summarizing, and substituting information along the way. Like a science fiction movie, we are living in a matrix that is our mind. In The Self Illusion, Dr. Bruce Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. He explains that self is the product of our relationships and interactions with others, and it exists only in our brains. The author argues, however, that though the self is an illusion, it is one that humans cannot live without. But things are changing as our technology develops and shapes society. The social bonds and relationships that used to take time and effort to form are now undergoing a revolution as we start to put our self online. Social networking activities such as blogging, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter threaten to change the way we behave. Social networking is fast becoming socialization on steroids. The speed and ease at which we can form alliances and relationships is outstripping the same selection processes that shaped our self prior to the internet era. This book ventures into unchartered territory to explain how the idea of the self will never be the same again in the online social world.
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Author
Bruce Hood
Pages
349
Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Published Date
2012-05-23
ISBN
019989759X 9780199897599
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
" In The Self Illusion, Bruce Hood makes an incredibly compelling case that the sense of "self" we all have is an illusion built by our brains to more easily make sense of the world around us and our place in it. He approaches just about every topic related to the "self" and attempts to demonstrate by many arguments, metaphors, and neurological/psychological studies why these notions of the self are not what they seem. In doing so, Hood addresses the location of the self, infant development, memories, self control, free will, insanity, criminal behaviour, personality, ego-depletion, societal and group influences, and more topics, giving accounts of each that align with his argument that the "self" is illusory. He gives a strong metaphor of the self: we are not a spider in a spider's web, we are a web without a spider. Each strand represents an influence (biological, memories, external factors, etc.) that pulls the web into the shape that we understand as "us". As external influences act on our web, it moulds, shapes, and responds. Hood writes, "Because we are our brains, which create our sense of self, we have no privileged access to this invisible process from an outsider’s perspective" (294). Our "self" is an illusion built by an inconceivably complex network of interactions in our brain, with other brains, and in response to external stimuli. Because it would be impossible to keep up with all these interactions and still operate effectively as a social animal, our mind simplifies all of these processes into a sense of self. I can imagine one saying, "So what? What if the self is an illusion? I still can't get outside of it." Hood accounts for this as well. "Those who reject the notion of a self in control of destiny, lead sadder, less satisfying lives. Those who embrace the self illusion feel fulfilled and purposeful" (Hood 292). He acknowledges that while it is important to understand the true, illusory nature of the self, this doesn't mean one should (or e"
Jacob Longini