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Why am I myself rather than someone else?
I think I read something like this in an encyclopedia; that it's a question in philosophy.
Not asking what makes me myself, my body, psychology, and narrative history. I'm asking why it is that these are mine, rather than yours. How is it that we are able to possess our own attributes? How are we able to draw a boundary about ourselves in this way differentiating ourselves from others?
I formulate this question thus: If Elvis Presley's twin had lived, and Elvis had died at birth, or had never been born, then Elvis would never have existed, even if his twin had been named Elvis and had acted exactly as he did. Somehow, it seems that self is not reducible to biology. Someone else could have had our biology without having our awareness, the mysterious thing that makes us ourselves.
It is impossible for you to be someone other than yourself - by definition!
By definition, someone else is different (in some way) from you. If (somehow) you were changed to be the same as the other person, then you would no longer be yourself, you would be a copy of the other person.
In short, if there exists anything at all attributable to you and only you, then you are you and not anyone else.
Consider two molecules of water (i.e., two atoms of hydrogen bonded to an atom of oxygen): water-molecule A and water-molecule B are distinguishable if and only if A and B have distinct spacial coordinates at any given time; knowing their inherent physical characteristics (e.g., mass, charge, electronegativity, polarity, boiling point, melting point, specific heat, etc.) is not enough information to say [(A = A) and (A = not B)].
An even simpler example: we can define an infinite number of distinct lines on the xy-plane using just two characteristics; i.e., slope and y-intercept (y=mx+b, where m represents slope and b represents the y-value of the y-intercept). For two y=mx+b equations, if either the m or the b differ, then the two equations each define a distinct line. To parallel the premise of your question: [line 1 = line 1] and [line 1 = not line 2] because line 1 is defined by something by which line 2 is not and line 2 is defined by something by which line 1 is not.
You're yourself rather than someone else because you derive from a pair of male and female germ cells distinct from that from which anyone else derives. If you had derived from the same pair of male and female germ cells from which Michael Jackson derived, then you and Michael Jackson would be the same person.
