Science Friday Podcast Recap: What’s ‘I,’ and Why?

How does one define a person? What are the grounds for defining a person – religious, genetic, intellectual, scientific, personal, etc.? Do scientific approaches such as having a genome sequenced serve to be most accurate? What about personality quizzes? Scientific writer Jennifer Ouellette recently attempted to answer that question with her recent publication “Me, Myself, and Why” in which she answers this question from a scientific standpoint. Normally a writer who discusses topics of physics, Ouellette was inspired to write her new book for multiple reasons. One is that she had recently found her perception of herself clashing with what her prior grades told her. She was also inspired by the concept of nature versus nurture that she often finds herself questioning as she is and adopted child. One thing she found difficult about writing this book of hers was defining the terms essential to the book’s overall meaning. For example, defining “self” was most difficult for her. She discovered through research and careful analysis that self is not defined solely by genetics, intellectual standards, or one thing in particular. Rather, she reached the conclusion that self is rather the integration of all of these things into one where “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”