登入選單
返回Google圖書搜尋
The Self Delusion
Tom Oliver
其他書名
The Surprising Science of how We are Connected and why that Matters
出版Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020
ISBN14746117459781474611749
URLhttp://books.google.com.hk/books?id=CXBTuwEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api
註釋We like to believe that we exist as independent selves at the centre of a subjective universe; that we are discrete individuals acting autonomously in the world with an unchanging inner self that persists throughout our lifetime. This is an illusion. On a physical, psychological and cultural level, we are all much more intertwined than we know: we cannot use our bodies to define our independent existence because most of our 37 trillion cells have such a short lifespan that we are essentially made anew every few weeks; the molecules that make up our bodies have already been component parts of countless other organisms, from ancient plants to dinosaurs; we are more than half non-human, in the form of bacteria, fungi and viruses, whose genes influence our moods and even manipulate our behaviour; and we cannot define ourselves by our minds, thoughts and actions, because these mainly originate from other people - the result of memes passing between us, existing before, after and beyond our own lifespans.