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Your self is a society of mind
Society of mind
Marvin Minsky, one of the pioneers of AI, called it the society of mind: the self emerges from the interplay of cognitive processes. Take out memory, attention, language, or conceptual understanding, or change how someone controls their behavior so that they become impulsive, and the self shifts in ways others can see. Personal identity and social identity both change.
Thyroid hormone
Even a hormone can do it. Too much thyroid hormone causes irritability and affects thinking. Too little can slow cognitive function so far that people wonder whether dementia is developing. Thyroxine mainly regulates metabolism, and it acts on neurons too.
When the brain changes
Brain disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and traumatic brain injury can change the self remarkably. Under the hood, about 95 percent of what the brain does goes on without conscious awareness, and personality is a product of those processes.
What did Minsky mean by a society of mind?
Marvin Minsky published The Society of Mind in 1986, building on his work with Seymour Papert at MIT. The book argues that the mind is made of huge numbers of small processes, called agents, that are each simple and mindless on their own. Intelligence arises from the way they are organized and interact. Minsky co-founded MIT's artificial intelligence laboratory in 1959.
How does thyroid hormone affect the brain?
Thyroid hormones act on neurons by binding to receptors in the cell nucleus that switch genes on and off. They are essential for brain development, and untreated congenital hypothyroidism causes intellectual disability. In adults, an underactive thyroid slows thinking and memory, and an overactive one is linked to anxiety and irritability.
How can a brain injury change personality?
Railroad foreman Phineas Gage survived an iron rod through his frontal lobe in 1848. His doctor, John Harlow, later reported that he had become impatient and profane, though accounts of how much he changed still differ. His case helped establish that the frontal lobes take part in planning and social behavior.
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