Category: Present

Is Future You Or Past You A Different Person?

You know more than your past self knew. Your future self will have more experiences than your current self. Is that enough to make them different people?

Occasionally, it can be helpful to consider your future self a different person from your present self.

“That’s not my problem,” you might think to yourself. “That’s my future self’s problem.”

Similarly, if there is one person you can be sure that you are smarter than, it is you from the past. You have all the knowledge and experience that that person had, plus whatever you have learned or experienced since then.

But is that enough to define a different person?

Obviously, your past self, present self, and future self have some commonalities. The decisions that your past self made led to the current you, and what you do now will set the stage for who you will become.

In addition, you all share the same DNA, have the same parents, went to the same high school, and so on. You share a temporal existence.

However, your body, and everything around you, is constantly in flux. Each breath you take is slightly different in composition, the food you eat from meal to meal varies, your microbiome is always changing, and so on.

As the saying goes, you can never step in  the same river twice — all the water changes from moment to moment, as it rushes downstream and is replaced with the water coming after.

Is it the same with your body? As cells live, divide, and die, to be replaced by new cells, are you the same when most, or all, of your cells are replaced?

When you think about the person you used to be, or the person you will become, do you consider that a different person? Or are they all just you, with some minor tweaks and changes?

Related questions: What advice would you give your past self? Past, present, or future? How much does your past determine your future? What do we owe the future? How do you plan for the future?

Does It Matter How Long We Are Remembered?

It is comforting to think that after we die, we will be remembered by others still living. But if we aren’t, what does that mean?

While human life spans have increased — in fact, more than doubled — in the last century or two, life is still exceedingly short. No one has managed to live past a hundred and fifty years old.

The way to immortality, then, is through our legacy. The children we raise. The work that we did that survives us. The stories and memories that continue to live on.

This is a common message through media. Emotional movies tug at our heartstrings, with characters saying that they feel the presence of a loved one. It is a common theme, understandably, at memorial services.

Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What gives a person value?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What makes you you?’

There are humans who have such an impact that they survive in our collective memory. It is usually through a discovery or artistic creation or a momentous feat of some kind. We know the name and achievements of someone who lived a thousand years ago. It would be nice if we were to have such an impact that we would be remembered or celebrated for hundreds or even thousands of years.

But would it really? It really makes no difference to you, after you die. Your death is not made better or happier if your name goes down in history.

Isn’t it more important to live your life in a fulfilling way right now? The future is uncertain at best, and won’t, barring unforeseen increases in human lifespans, include you?

Alternately, if you are not remembered, or only remembered for a short span of time, did your life, your existence, really mean anything at all?

Does it matter how long we are remembered?

Related questions: What gives a person value? Why are people afraid of death? What would you say to people in the future? How do you want to be remembered? Should we be concerned with legacy?

Birthday: Celebrate Or Not?

Some people say birthday celebrations are for children. Others like to celebrate throughout their entire lives. Which are you?

Share why if you wish.

Birthday: Celebrate Or Not?
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Classic Or Contemporary?

Do you have more of “classic” outlook, or are you more of a contemporary type of person? You can choose whatever metric you prefer: music, architecture, fashion, etc.

Share why if you wish.

Classic Or Contemporary?
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How Much Does Your Past Determine Your Future?

It is tempting to think that your future is laid out in front of you. Anything is possible, given the proper choice in the current moment.

However, that is not true. In reality, choices made in your past determine which choices are available to you in the present.

For example, the decision you made in third grade to play trumpet in band class means that today you won’t be auditioning for a drummer in a rock-n-roll band. Or, perhaps, your choice to major in English literature means you probably won’t be getting a job at NASA as an engineer.

Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What book has had the biggest impact on you?’ We discuss another question as well, ‘How do you show thanks?’

Of course, there are exceptions to this. All the time, people end up in careers that have little or nothing to do with their college major. Throughout your life, you can choose to take up a new hobby. You might go back to school to learn something new.

However, it is true that at a young age, it is easier to learn new skills. Appropriately exposed, young children find it much easier to learn multiple languages than as an adult. If you learn to ski at a young age, your muscle memory is more ingrained than later in life.

Can you think of moments in your life where you choose a particular path that helped determine how things played out for you? Are there times in your past life that a different choice would have opened up — or closed — other options for the current you?

Similarly, there are some choices that you might make right now, in the present, that will determine what possibilities exist for future you. How might you make decisions now to best benefit your future self?

The actions you have taken throughout your life might have consequences for you now. How much does your past determine your future?

Related questions: What is time? How have you changed? What’s the most useful thing you’ve ever learned? What do you wish you had learned as a child? Will the future be better than the present?