Natasha Mitchell: So it's not a little man or woman inside our heads...

Thomas Metzinger: ...that looks at pictures. But the experience of looking, of being directed to one's own feelings or to one's sensory perceptions of the outside world, this is itself an image. There is nobody looking at the image, it's like the camera is part of the picture or the viewing is itself a part of the process of viewing. This is how a first-person perspective emerges in our own case, the question is, okay, if it's not a thing, if it's not something in the brain, what kind of a process is it?

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posted by y2karl on Oct 14, 2009 - 56 comments

Dubfx and Flower Fairy play an amazing 40 minute set ( Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), at the Wedding of Mathew* and Jes Bevans. [more inside]
posted by Lord_Pall on May 21, 2009 - 8 comments

My Genome, My Self: Steven Pinker considers what we can expect from personal genomics. Searching for Intelligence in Our Genes: Carl Zimmer looks at the hunt to learn about the role of genes in intelligence.
posted by homunculus on Jan 10, 2009 - 6 comments

First Person Plural. "An evolving approach to the science of pleasure suggests that each of us contains multiple selves—all with different desires, and all fighting for control. If this is right, the pursuit of happiness becomes even trickier. Can one self bind another self if the two want different things? Are you always better off when a Good Self wins? And should outsiders, such as employers and policy makers, get into the fray?" [Via]
posted by homunculus on Oct 25, 2008 - 27 comments

Russell Higgs has been adorning his face and head with various objects and posting photographic portraits online since July 2006. Dutch artist Levi van Veluw also likes to modify his face by putting things on it and photographing the results.
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 12, 2008 - 11 comments

A View In Your Mirror: Painter Jan Verhulst compiles self portraits made by artists in their preferred medium.
posted by fair_game on Feb 24, 2007 - 8 comments

A self-portrait every day: Sven and Tobias Staude, Ahree Lee, Noah Kalina.
posted by MetaMonkey on Sep 2, 2006 - 16 comments

Self-portrait: A portrait an artist makes using himself or herself as its subject, typically drawn or painted from a reflection in a mirror. There are many famous painted self portraits, but now that everyone has a digital camera, more and more photographic self portaits are popping up everywhere. Whether you think of it as vanity, narcissism, self-invovlment, or just art, it is hard to deny that there are a lot of interesting and well-composed shots out there. Sure, there are plenty of arm-length camera angles, but there is also work being done with black and white images, hands and feet, and, of course, eyes. Even photoshop is used sometimes. People are still speculating on what exactly all these pictures mean, but I think it is clear that from totally innocent to intensely personal to NSFW, self portraits are here to stay.
posted by nuclear_soup on Mar 20, 2006 - 14 comments

The first Transhuman Conference On the Law of Transhuman Persons: Whether or not you believe humans are set to evolve into gods, or AI is destined to achieve self-awareness the idea of the Transhuman is a thought provoking concept. Philosophers have debated the nature of the self, of the human for millennia. Is it time to start drafting new laws to govern all possible sentient beings on this planet? or is it all just a science of fiction? a comfortable humanist illusion?
posted by 0bvious on Dec 13, 2005 - 37 comments

Face to Face: The Science of Reading Faces. Transcript(and video)of a 2004 interview with psychologist Paul Ekman, who is known for his research on facial expression and the development, with associates, of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Includes a few facial expression photos. Part of the "Conversations with History" series at the Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley .
posted by hortense on Dec 10, 2005 - 10 comments

This link, which you are no longer looking at, will take you to a pretty cool essay.
posted by Citizen Premier on Aug 27, 2005 - 48 comments

1001 Self Portraits reaches 40.
posted by feelinglistless on Nov 24, 2004 - 25 comments

Scribe, schedule and send a soliloqy to the self. [more inside]
posted by pedantic on Sep 10, 2003 - 6 comments