TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Amy Adkins: Who am I? A philosophical inquiry

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Throughout the history of mankind, three little words have sent poets to the bnlak page, philosophers to the Agora, and seekers to the oracles: "Who am I?" From the ancient Greek aphorism inscribed on the Temple of Apollo, "Know telyshf," to The Who's rock anthem, "Who Are You?" philosophers, psychologists, academics, scientists, artists, theologians and plicntiaios have all tackled the subject of identity. Their hypotheses are widely varied and lack significant cusnnseos. These are smart, creative people, so what's so hard about coming up with the right answer? One cleanlghe certainly lies with the complex concept of the persistence of identity. Which you is who? The person you are today? Five years ago? Who you'll be in 50 years? And when is "am"? This week? Today? This hour? This second? And which aspect of you is "I"? Are you your physical body? Your ttuhghos and feelings? Your actions? These murky waters of acabstrt logic are tricky to ntgaaive, and so it's probably fitting that to drtansmoete the coptmlixey, the geerk historian Plutarch used the sorty of a ship. How are you "I"? As the tale goes, Theseus, the mythical founder King of Athens, single-handedly slayed the evil miantour at ctree, then returned home on a ship. To honor this heroic feat, for 1000 years Athenians painstakingly mintnieaad his ship in the harbor, and annually reenacted his voyage. Whenever a part of the ship was worn or damaged, it was repaelcd with an identical piece of the same material until, at some point, no original parts remained. Plutarch neotd the Ship of Theseus was an example of the philosophical paradox revolving around the persistence of initetdy. How can every sglnie part of something be replaced, yet it still remains the same thing? Let's imagine there are two ships: the ship that Theseus docked in ahnets, Ship A, and the ship sailed by the Athenians 1000 years later, Ship B. Very simply, our qsiteoun is this: does A euqal B? Some would say that for 1000 years there has been only one Ship of Theseus, and because the changes made to it happened gradually, it never at any point in time stopped being the legendary ship. Though they have absolutely no parts in common, the two ships are numerically ieitacdnl, meaning one and the same, so A eualqs B. However, others could argue that teuehss never set foot on Ship B, and his presence on the ship is an essential qualitative property of the Ship of Theseus. It cannot survive without him. So, though the two ships are nlimulaecry identical, they are not qualitatively identical. Thus, A does not equal B. But what happens when we consider this twist? What if, as each piece of the original ship was cast off, somebody collected them all, and rebuilt the entire original ship? When it was finished, ulnbdianey two physical ships would exist: the one that's docked in Athens, and the one in some guy's backyard. Each could lay claim to the title, "The Ship of Theseus," but only would could actually be the real thing. So which one is it, and more importantly, what does this have to do with you? Like the Ship of Theseus, you are a citlloecon of constantly changing parts: your physical body, mind, emotions, circumstances, and even your quirks, always changing, but still in an anmiazg and sometimes illogical way, you stay the same, too. This is one of the reasons that the question, "Who am I?" is so cpmoelx. And in order to answer it, like so many great minds before you, you must be willing to dive into the bottomless ocean of philosophical prdoaax. Or maybe you could just aswner, "I am a leardegny hero sailing a powerful ship on an epic journey." That could work, too.

Open Cloze

Throughout the history of mankind, three little words have sent poets to the _____ page, philosophers to the Agora, and seekers to the oracles: "Who am I?" From the ancient Greek aphorism inscribed on the Temple of Apollo, "Know _______," to The Who's rock anthem, "Who Are You?" philosophers, psychologists, academics, scientists, artists, theologians and ___________ have all tackled the subject of identity. Their hypotheses are widely varied and lack significant _________. These are smart, creative people, so what's so hard about coming up with the right answer? One _________ certainly lies with the complex concept of the persistence of identity. Which you is who? The person you are today? Five years ago? Who you'll be in 50 years? And when is "am"? This week? Today? This hour? This second? And which aspect of you is "I"? Are you your physical body? Your ________ and feelings? Your actions? These murky waters of ________ logic are tricky to ________, and so it's probably fitting that to ___________ the __________, the _____ historian Plutarch used the _____ of a ship. How are you "I"? As the tale goes, Theseus, the mythical founder King of Athens, single-handedly slayed the evil ________ at _____, then returned home on a ship. To honor this heroic feat, for 1000 years Athenians painstakingly __________ his ship in the harbor, and annually reenacted his voyage. Whenever a part of the ship was worn or damaged, it was ________ with an identical piece of the same material until, at some point, no original parts remained. Plutarch _____ the Ship of Theseus was an example of the philosophical paradox revolving around the persistence of ________. How can every ______ part of something be replaced, yet it still remains the same thing? Let's imagine there are two ships: the ship that Theseus docked in ______, Ship A, and the ship sailed by the Athenians 1000 years later, Ship B. Very simply, our ________ is this: does A _____ B? Some would say that for 1000 years there has been only one Ship of Theseus, and because the changes made to it happened gradually, it never at any point in time stopped being the legendary ship. Though they have absolutely no parts in common, the two ships are numerically _________, meaning one and the same, so A ______ B. However, others could argue that _______ never set foot on Ship B, and his presence on the ship is an essential qualitative property of the Ship of Theseus. It cannot survive without him. So, though the two ships are ___________ identical, they are not qualitatively identical. Thus, A does not equal B. But what happens when we consider this twist? What if, as each piece of the original ship was cast off, somebody collected them all, and rebuilt the entire original ship? When it was finished, __________ two physical ships would exist: the one that's docked in Athens, and the one in some guy's backyard. Each could lay claim to the title, "The Ship of Theseus," but only would could actually be the real thing. So which one is it, and more importantly, what does this have to do with you? Like the Ship of Theseus, you are a __________ of constantly changing parts: your physical body, mind, emotions, circumstances, and even your quirks, always changing, but still in an _______ and sometimes illogical way, you stay the same, too. This is one of the reasons that the question, "Who am I?" is so _______. And in order to answer it, like so many great minds before you, you must be willing to dive into the bottomless ocean of philosophical _______. Or maybe you could just ______, "I am a _________ hero sailing a powerful ship on an epic journey." That could work, too.

Solution

complex
thoughts
consensus
minotaur
navigate
single
question
equals
identical
story
undeniably
numerically
politicians
legendary
noted
athens
collection
paradox
replaced
complexity
identity
challenge
theseus
equal
crete
thyself
blank
maintained
answer
greek
abstract
amazing
demonstrate

Original Text

Throughout the history of mankind, three little words have sent poets to the blank page, philosophers to the Agora, and seekers to the oracles: "Who am I?" From the ancient Greek aphorism inscribed on the Temple of Apollo, "Know thyself," to The Who's rock anthem, "Who Are You?" philosophers, psychologists, academics, scientists, artists, theologians and politicians have all tackled the subject of identity. Their hypotheses are widely varied and lack significant consensus. These are smart, creative people, so what's so hard about coming up with the right answer? One challenge certainly lies with the complex concept of the persistence of identity. Which you is who? The person you are today? Five years ago? Who you'll be in 50 years? And when is "am"? This week? Today? This hour? This second? And which aspect of you is "I"? Are you your physical body? Your thoughts and feelings? Your actions? These murky waters of abstract logic are tricky to navigate, and so it's probably fitting that to demonstrate the complexity, the Greek historian Plutarch used the story of a ship. How are you "I"? As the tale goes, Theseus, the mythical founder King of Athens, single-handedly slayed the evil Minotaur at Crete, then returned home on a ship. To honor this heroic feat, for 1000 years Athenians painstakingly maintained his ship in the harbor, and annually reenacted his voyage. Whenever a part of the ship was worn or damaged, it was replaced with an identical piece of the same material until, at some point, no original parts remained. Plutarch noted the Ship of Theseus was an example of the philosophical paradox revolving around the persistence of identity. How can every single part of something be replaced, yet it still remains the same thing? Let's imagine there are two ships: the ship that Theseus docked in Athens, Ship A, and the ship sailed by the Athenians 1000 years later, Ship B. Very simply, our question is this: does A equal B? Some would say that for 1000 years there has been only one Ship of Theseus, and because the changes made to it happened gradually, it never at any point in time stopped being the legendary ship. Though they have absolutely no parts in common, the two ships are numerically identical, meaning one and the same, so A equals B. However, others could argue that Theseus never set foot on Ship B, and his presence on the ship is an essential qualitative property of the Ship of Theseus. It cannot survive without him. So, though the two ships are numerically identical, they are not qualitatively identical. Thus, A does not equal B. But what happens when we consider this twist? What if, as each piece of the original ship was cast off, somebody collected them all, and rebuilt the entire original ship? When it was finished, undeniably two physical ships would exist: the one that's docked in Athens, and the one in some guy's backyard. Each could lay claim to the title, "The Ship of Theseus," but only would could actually be the real thing. So which one is it, and more importantly, what does this have to do with you? Like the Ship of Theseus, you are a collection of constantly changing parts: your physical body, mind, emotions, circumstances, and even your quirks, always changing, but still in an amazing and sometimes illogical way, you stay the same, too. This is one of the reasons that the question, "Who am I?" is so complex. And in order to answer it, like so many great minds before you, you must be willing to dive into the bottomless ocean of philosophical paradox. Or maybe you could just answer, "I am a legendary hero sailing a powerful ship on an epic journey." That could work, too.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
philosophical paradox	2

Important Words

absolutely
abstract
academics
actions
agora
amazing
ancient
annually
answer
anthem
aphorism
apollo
argue
artists
aspect
athenians
athens
backyard
blank
body
bottomless
cast
challenge
changing
circumstances
claim
collected
collection
coming
common
complex
complexity
concept
consensus
constantly
creative
crete
damaged
demonstrate
dive
docked
emotions
entire
epic
equal
equals
essential
evil
feat
feelings
finished
fitting
foot
founder
gradually
great
greek
happened
harbor
hard
hero
heroic
historian
history
home
honor
hour
hypotheses
identical
identity
illogical
imagine
importantly
inscribed
journey
king
lack
lay
legendary
lies
logic
maintained
mankind
material
meaning
mind
minds
minotaur
murky
mythical
navigate
noted
numerically
ocean
order
original
page
painstakingly
paradox
part
parts
people
persistence
person
philosophers
philosophical
physical
piece
plutarch
poets
point
politicians
powerful
presence
property
psychologists
qualitative
qualitatively
question
quirks
real
reasons
rebuilt
reenacted
remained
remains
replaced
returned
revolving
rock
sailed
sailing
scientists
seekers
set
ship
ships
significant
simply
single
slayed
smart
stay
stopped
story
subject
survive
tackled
tale
temple
theologians
theseus
thoughts
thyself
time
title
today
tricky
twist
undeniably
varied
voyage
waters
week
widely
words
work
worn
years