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There can be at least two selfs very easily.

There is me, the wise guy who set the alarm so I can wake up early tomorrow and is distinct from the lazy me who won’t wake up the next morning.

Then there is me, the nice guy who deserves to sleep in this morning and is distinct from the malicious beast who set the damn alarm last night and is intent on ruining my morning.

Completely different people.



I completely concur with dual-think/multiple selves, but your example talks about two different selves at two different _times_, not at once as OP assumes.


If I understand correctly, you don't need to think these two (or more?) selves as mutually exclusive. It's just that when in certain contexts, e.g., when one is setting the alarm, this self has the appropriate conditions to be the dominant one (the laziness feeling bundle is not yet present). The other self, the lazy one, is still there, but its voice is not strong enough to overpower the first.

By contrast, in the morning, the reverse is also true, only this time the lazy voice is completely empowered by the comfy environment -- the other self just not having enough power to break through through the thick wall of comfort attached feelings the body is experiencing at the moment.

To put more simply, both (or more?) are there at the same time. but one is active, the other latent.


I was looking at it as time causing neurotransmitter changes (leading to sleep) and the resulting self being manipulated due to being in a sleepy state, but I see now how your explanation makes sense too.


Exactly.


"That's a problem for Future Homer! Man, I don't envy that guy!"


It’s really system 1 and system 2 fighting, the temporal aspect just makes the drama more striking.




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