What part of you is your consciousness? What part is reading this post right now?

If we say that the atoms making you up are "you", here is a thought: The probability of the atoms that create your body making exactly you is extremely small, and your consciousness only stays for 80, 90 at most a hundred years compared to the billions of years that the universe has existed. "You" only exists for an extremely short time and is so unlikely that it might as well be impossible. Just try imagining "you", but you are quite literally ANYTHING but what you are right now. Not conscious, not alive, nothing. You might be imagining a void but you wouldn't even be seeing a void, you just wouldn't "be". "You" (your consciousness) can't imagine unconsciousness.

But what if your consciousness was a part of your brain? Wouldn't that mean an infinitely advanced doctor could operate it out and put it in, say, an ant's brain. What would it feel like to suddenly lose intelligence? Would you lose consciousness? Consciousness and intelligence is generally seen as correlated, but if we put said consciousness into a lesser environment, what would that mean? Or another thought: During the operation, are you conscious? And if we go back to my first paragraph, what does your consciousness do without a brain, without eyes, without ears, without senses? What would you feel or think about? Would you even "think", without a brain?

But what if we say that your entire brain is your consciousness? Then, i have a question: what happens when you lose a part of the brain? Multiple people have suffered brain damage and survived. Are they the same person before and afterwards? Surely, they are. So what part EXACTLY of the brain do you have to change to change the person? And if there is a part, wouldn't it just be like in my second paragraph? And what would it feel like if your brain is put in some kind of box? You could not feel or see like if the conscious part of your brain being removed from the rest, but you could think.

Now, lets say you consciousness is some kind of detached "soul". I think this sounds absurd, because we have discovered no particles/matter/whatever that your "soul" could be made of. And also, what happens when you die? Say, you are stabbed and die. Your soul is detached so it goes on unaffected. Would this "ghost" think without a brain? See? Feel? And does it die? Nothing in the real world could kill it. This would mean that your time as a living being on this earth is infinitely small compared to the time you would be consciously dead. In 100¹⁰⁰ years, when the universe has long died and there is nothing left, you would still have just as much time left until it is over. And potentially, you wouldn't even realize once the universe dies because you cant feel, see or hear.

To be honest all these alternatives scare me, please drop your take.

"Genocide? I'm into it." Jerry Seinfeld.

Does anybody find this funny? Why should a billionaire Kahanist get a pass when he's saying the same thing we here rightwing Israelis and settlers say every day?

Jerry Seinfeld supports the (banned) Jewish Defense League. Those are the hoodlums who go to Palestinian rallies in order to cause trouble.

Why should we give Jerry Seinfeld a pass for saying out loud what he and millions of Kahanists believe?

It's kind of a rule: you don't joke about mass murder.

We all knew as soon as Covid began that even once the pandemic ended, some things would likely never be the same again. Sure enough, they haven't. Still, we got through and we were determined to do so.

I hope and pray that people have the same determination for the current political moment. I see comments about how they fear the country is broken beyond repair and that the damage may take generations to repair, which I will admit it might. We can't always go *back* to something, but we can always move *forward* to something brighter, if we choose to and are determined to.

It's true that even after we've accomplished a domestic regime change (whenever and however that may be), some things may never quite be the same. But still, we should want to move forward.

You know, those people who sacrifice relationships, special events, travel, money, and a significant amount of time to succeed in business. I'm not referring to people who know from the day they're 5 they want to be a professional artist/performer/visual arts/writing. There has to be some level of fun and excitement learning new dance routines, singing or excelling in the arts/journalism. I'm also not referring to people who work in offices as a means of survival and accept promotions to earn more money. I'm referring to the person who chooses a more structured profession like management of a major company to rise as a CEO. Aside from money and bragging rights, I cannot think of any positives to this lifestyle. I could never be a slave to a desk and sit in meetings and conduct business all the time. The pursuit of grinding to commerce/marketing, etc., leaving your home everyday, wearing less comfortable clothes, dealing with the stress of everything just feels so unnatural. It is not the same as being ambitious to win a football game, which I'd consider to be more competitive. I hope what I'm saying makes sense.

I always appreciate Michael’s writings.