How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other

Re:How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other by Kristine1975 on Friday April 22, 2016 @03:41AM (#11547608)

When the fish opens its mouth, in place of a tongue you see a slimy, multilegged creature, its beady eyes staring straight at you, its creepy claws reaching out to grab you or anything else that looks like food.

Now I know where the Alien's tongue comes from.

On a more serious note: My "self" is what I want to be part of me. My fingers? I want them, so they are part of myself/my self. That botfly maggot eating my head? Don't want it, so not part of my self.

Of course that only works for sentient beings. Does the fish "want" to have a weird creature as its tongue?

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Re:How biological invaders challenge our idea of self and other by egjerlow on Friday April 22, 2016 @03:54AM (#11547651)

And do you want your gut bacteria to be part of you? Only the part of them that doesn't make your stomach upset when you eat <something>?

Though I instinctively think this definition sounds good, I think in the case of gut bacteria it doesn't hold up. They are an integral part of our well-being, but if we could engineer them to only respond 'positively' to food, surely we would. And yet, I would not say that those bacteria that make my stomach act up are less a part of me than the bacteria that don't.

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