Human Persons
What is a person, and who gets to decide?
If you would like to listen along…
https://castbox.fm/episode/What-Is-A-Person--id3792695-id364600552?country=us
Question.
Are people, people?
Or maybe a better question is, how do we determine things, like personhood?
Things like identity, that are so deeply woven with self yet are often be left to the domain of world governments and tech companies. This is no good.
I think that maybe it’s time we consider the future we’re creating.
Before Neuralink and CRISPR and genetic testing and robot cannon arms become commonplace, we should at least try to figure out which way is up.
And do so in earnest.
The coming age of transhumanism and artificial intelligence is more likely to foster deeper imbalances and divisions among us than it is to bring about some sort of idyllic utopia. It’s time we get real.
It’s time we begin to question what we value, and why we value it.
Not the cost. The value.
It directly impact how we see life.
What is a person? And who gets to be one?
The answer to may seem obvious, “well of course a person is a physical being animated by his experience and maintaining a level of conscious awareness”
But upon examination, one begins to notice the fluidity that accompanies such a term. “Person.” It doesn’t seem to imply the same things for everyone.
In a world filled with euphemism, hyperbole, metaphor, double standards, and double entendres, it can be tough to pin down something akin to a universal definition. And that goes for anything.
Let alone sentient beings crafted in the image of divinity.
Whether restoring what’s broken, or recovering what’s lost — to embark upon the task of defining reality can quickly become a dangerous one.
Especially when people are involved.
We must be careful to tread lightly when it come’s to labels, but I understand — we need those heuristics, those categories with which to better interpret the world.
It’s this constant wrestling match between the organizing forces of nature and the chaotic forces of time, combining to create the society we see today.
Languages then, are like time capsules.
Words reflect truths that can illuminate the past with new understanding of various places and times while giving us better context for living today.
The way in which we use language often sets the stage for how we interact with… damn near, everything. So. To nominally rest on standard definitions does a great disservice to our personhood.
Our multiplicity. Or as Walt Whitman put it, our multitudes.
For example, Oxford says that a person is…
“…someone who is to be regarded...”
This is neither comprehensive, nor very inspiring.
But as with most definitions, they allow us a shared point of reference from which to begin an honest dialogue.
So, back to the question — what is a person?
The implications of how we choose to answer this, will determine the course of our shared future. Both on this planet and the next one.
This is no overstatement.
The notions surrounding what it means to be a person are in a constant state of flux. Even the definitions for what constitutes something as ubiquitous as life itself seem up for debate.
From the transatlantic trading of humans, to present whispers of a new world order. People forget that not so long ago black Americans were considered 3/5th a person — a mentality that pervades to today, manifesting into what we now know as the prison industrial system.
All of this is to say…
Defining personhood is no cakewalk, particularly since it invariably involves people. It almost seems, as through biological indicators aren’t quite enough.
What I mean is, to be physically recognized as a Homo Sapien, does not necessarily guarantee that you will be treated like one.
Maybe, to answer our question fully, we need to take a step back and consider what characteristics a person can possess.
Can a person own property?
Can a person be property?
Is a person just highly evolved protoplasm?
Or, a divinely inspired reflection of infinity?
Can a person be uploaded into a machine?
Can one person be a ratio of another person?
Is a person still a person without proper papers?
At what point in time does one become a person?
At conception? At birth?
Or, as the poet Propaganda puts it…
“Does a person become a person because of other persons… or, is a person a person independent of other persons perceptions?”
I ask, because I want to understand.
Not because I already do.
Truth be told, I don’t really understand anything these days — but, I’m quite certain that a spiritual recalibration of some sort is long overdue.
If we do not think deeply about these topics, somebody else will. In fact, many already have. Which is why we are where we are today.
Locked in loops of memes and algorithmic indifference.
I’m not asking you to become a social recluse. Or an arm chair philosopher. I simply want you to pause, and to think… (for yourself).
What is a person? And who gets to decide?
I’m a fan of simplicity.
Definitions are no exception. So, to me…
A person is, a human being that matters.
With this, it becomes apparent that crux of existence rests on how we decide who matters, and the people we involve in the process.
It’s only in as much as I care for someone, that their identity can begin to shift from “other” to “human”. And the implications here are massive.
Think about it.
Our entire concept of war is built on the notion of there being some evil other out in the world who we need to contend with.
Absent such a paradigm (us vs them) one’s ability to make people out as a monsters becomes severely undermined.
Part of why the battlefield over personhood seems so crowded today, is because we have effectively rendered identity as a game.
And in this game, everything is subjective, and anyone can be anything. Which is awesome.
But it also brings me to this next question — of what it means to matter?
Heuristics we use range from job titles to skin tones, though oftentimes, these stereotypes bear no relation to the complex realities tied up in a person.
Even the very word individual implies a sort of one-ness.
An inherent simplicity. The final block of division. The most basic part of an organism, the unit from which higher systems derive both form and function.
In a way, people are like NFTs.
Meaning, value cannot be quantified by or reduced to metrics that do not allow for a more comprehensive view of one’s humanity.
Everyone is unique. The thing is, money is not.
Dollars cannot gauge objective value, only comparative value.
What really matter to us then, becomes a practice in value discovery. A function of what we spend our time pursuing.
My philosophy here is simple.
We need each other, so let’s value each other.
Here, collaboration becomes a major key to our evolution.
If you look back through history, and study any successful group of people; from great civilizations to armies of 300, in each there lies a pervasive thought so deeply understood by members of these communities that it was likely seen as a mere given.
The idea? “We cannot do this alone.”
The next stage of our humanity calls for us to graduate from competition, to cooperation. Because, at the end of the day, we are on the same team.
Realize that ‘equality’ does not mean rigging a system to ensure equal outcomes, rather it refers to appreciating every single individual person as uniquely, fully, and irreversibly human.
It is only within the context of deep knowing, that we can begin to reform ourselves into who we’re truly meant to be.
The very concept of self is discovered through relationship.
We need each other.
We are each other.
This is what it means to be human.
Second hand definitions are incredibly flimsy, and how we decide to characterize folks will have an outsized impact on the future we co-create.
Let’s tread lightly, and remain human. Because.
News flash: we cannot create ourselves.
God already did that.
But, we can negotiate a better way forward.
And of the things we can create, meaningful relationships should top that list. Through isolation, we only shackle ourselves to false ideals of what it means to be important.
Therefore, it is only in relationship that we can begin to unburden ourselves from partiality, and sense the magnificence inherent in every. single. person.
Because, you matter.
No matter what.
