Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy seeks to understand a very complicated question: "Who am I?". How do we differentiate ourselves from every other person in the world? What makes an individual uniquely themselves; their soul, their minds, their dreams? At what age does a person recognize they are a totally separate being from those around them? These are just some of the questions Sautoy attempts to answer through a series of scientific and social experiments
What I learned: All the different ways a person can consider themselves a person. The film's a comprehensive look at the many different aspects of being an individual; the soul, the body, and the mind. It gave me a lot to think about in regards to what makes me...well, me.
What I liked: For a mathematician Sautoy had a great sense of humor. He was fun and a good host through this journey. And because he provided a narrative, his own strong desire to understand himself as an individual, I became more invested in the story.
And the experiments were pretty neat. Some were relatively simple: the age old 'mirror test' to see if children or other animals can identify themselves in a mirror, thus proving they possess a concept of self. Others were more involved: scientists tested which neurons fired when subjects were shown images of different people and places. They found that some neurons only fire in response to specific photos. One subject had neurons that only fired when shown images of Jennifer Aniston. Out of 100 photos, the neurons only fired 6 times, 1 for each Aniston photo that was shown. The weirder part is that when shown pictures of Aniston with Brad Pitt, the neuron didn't fire, which means it might only be for identifying an individual by itself and not in groups or with others. Scientists use this to show that neurons exists in complicated patterns within our brains and can be assigned amazingly specific tasks, such as recognizing a certain celebrity.
Jennifer Aniston makes my brain hurt.
What I didn't like: While all of the experiments were fascinating, it was hard to gauge their effectiveness simply by watching someone else take part in them. For one experiment Sautoy was equipped with a helmet-viewer hooked to nearby cameras. The goal was to create the feeling of an out of body experience. Sautoy obviously experienced the desired effect and seemed pretty moved by it, but for the viewers it was harder to feel the impact. And since I don't have any VR cameras currently at my disposal I don't think I'll get to try it myself anytime soon.
Also, though I was thrilled at the start of the film to hear him discuss so many different aspects to understanding identity, I soon realized there was no way it was all going to be covered in-depth inside of an hour. And low and behold, I was correct. Like all documentaries that try to cover too much, it felt rushed and didn't dive into each aspect as much as it could have.
A little over my head at times, a little rushed all the time, it still presented some interesting information.
It can be found on youtube:
While watching it, I suggest keeping this simple mantra in mind: "How am I not myself?"
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