<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><br><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>The concept of “self” is created in relation to that which is not the self (the other). <font color="#000000"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No one is arguing that your physical body would dissolve</span></font>and that you would ascend to an enlightened non-material self. </div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div><div>So what's your point? Without other people I cease to be a person? That's ludicrous. </div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>What we’re saying is that your concept of “self” that is, how you define yourself as a person distinct from others, breaks down if you are the only person. </div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>No it doesn't, it just changes. </div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>Let’s take a for example here: how would you describe yourself? What type of person are you? How would that sense of self be impacted by no longer having other people?</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I'd be different, but I wouldn't cease to exist.</div><div><br></div><div>-Dave </div></div></div></blockquote><br><div>You have entirely missed everything I said here. I am only going to respond to this little bit due to time. </div><div><br></div><div>Please note the phrase ‘no one’. “<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No one is arguing that your physical body would dissolve”</span></div><div><br></div><div>Please look into the psychological effects of solitary confinement, where people become unable to tell the difference between self and environment, injuring themselves without knowing they are doing it. </div><div><br></div><div>If who you are depends on others, then your “self” changes when you remove the people...</div><div><br></div><div>SR Ballard</div></body></html>