As the days grow shorter, my schedule's regularity passes the weeks quickly. A few full evenings a week I study for Neuromorphic Engineering (lots of transistor physics), and occasionally crack a book for one of the five other classes, so it's hard to keep track of where the time goes. It's not all work, admittedly - I joined some friends to see the new James Bond movie (Skyfall) on Tuesday and a Mika concert last Thursday, among other, lesser outings. It's probably a good balance.
In adjusting to the new culture, I'm not dealing with the Swiss culture so much as the culture among the other students. The enculturation is not a task as such, but there are differences. When I work with people who are accustomed to more formal education environments, it can mean adjustments for both of us - they think I take assignments too lightly and unprofessionally (I do), and I have a hard time wanting to turn in polished assignments as long as we demonstrate understanding. It's probably good for me. I like to think it's also good for them. Either way, I get to work with some talented people and feel like we balance the work well.
There's not much to report beyond the daily grind. Hiking season is [mostly?] over, so weekends again turn to winter activities - baking bread, running errands, studying, and relaxing. Occasionally my mind thinks about something, anything that happens to cross it. One thing I've thought about off and on is the idea of identity. Not my specific identity (well that, too), but also what we mean by identity. What do we mean?
Here's a letter a friend recently came across. When Kurt Vonnegut was 22, the Germans captured him as a prisoner of war during WWII. He survived the firebombing of Dresden and lived many of the experiences that befall the main character of his Slaughterhouse Five (a quick read that's much worth it, if you never have). This is the letter he wrote to his family after the war ended, telling them he was alive and would be home in some weeks. Even at 22, you hear his distinctive voice that we know so well from his books, though it would be another eight years until he published his first book.
By simply reading the letter's salutation - "Dear people," - you can imagine no one but Vonnegut writing this. "Dear people." The first sure word he sends home after months as a POW - writing to his family and whomever they may share it with - and he opens with, "Dear people." Maybe that's the only thing he could open with. But to the topic at hand: you read this letter and you know that this is Vonnegut. This is quintessential Vonnegut - pragmatically artistic, matter-of-fact, full of the human element without basking in emotion, and whatever else reads as Vonnegut. All of his writing really gives a strong sense of who he was.
But what do we mean by that? Who do we say that he was? For that matter, who am I? Am I defined by what I do, what I think or believe, the groups in which I claim membership (or the groups that claim me as a member)? By how I process the world? Perhaps I am defined by the way in which I define myself.
A less asked question than, "Who am I?" is probably, "Who are you?" How does one go about answering that question when it's about someone else? In saying, "This letter represents who Vonnegut was," are we saying more than, "I recognize this as being like Vonnegut's other writing and reflects the worldview he presents in his other work"?
What do we mean by "who"? Is there something that you are beyond describing basic characteristics, interests, and personality traits - something that we can actually articulate? Or is that all we mean when we ask that - simply to put together some kind of description? Is there no difference between "who you are" and "what you are like"?
I don't want to get too meta, and don't yet have any sort of formulated answer. I really am interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Identity and self-hood fascinate me. I hope to be able to spend more time learning and talking about this with people, in addition to a few other areas related to the psyche, language, and philosophy of mind. If I'm good about it, I'll spend some time on here looking at this stuff. If I'm lucky, I'll figure out a way to turn some of this stuff into a plausible research project with tangible goals. But that's a ways down the road. I may be on a road that will take me in the right direction, but I need to find a more specific way to that path before putting my best laid plans along with those of other, smarter mice and men.
