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 blank page, philosophers to the Agora, and seekers to the oracles: "Who am I?" From the aninect geerk ahirpsom isicbernd on the Temple of Apollo, "Know thyself," to The Who's rock anthem, "Who Are You?" philosophers, pcsgsohltyois, academics, scientists, artists, theologians and politicians have all talekcd the subject of identity. Their heseohptys are weildy varied and lack significant cesuosnns. These are smart, cveatrie polpee, 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 phisyacl body? Your thoughts and fgeienls? Your actions? These mkury waters of atabscrt ligoc are tricky to navigate, and so it's probably fitting that to demonstrate the clotiempxy, the Greek horiasitn Plutarch used the story of a ship. How are you "I"? As the tale goes, Theseus, the mythical fouednr King of Athens, single-handedly slayed the evil Minotaur at Crete, then returned home on a ship. To hnoor 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 inieadtcl picee of the same material until, at some point, no original parts remained. patcurlh noted the Ship of Theseus was an example of the philosophical paradox revolving around the pestrseince of identity. How can every slgnie 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 yeras later, Ship B. Very spimly, 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 cmomon, 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 spihs 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, ublnnidaey 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 tilte, "The Ship of thueess," 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 cnngahig, 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 padaorx. Or maybe you could just answer, "I am a legendary 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 blank page, philosophers to the Agora, and seekers to the oracles: "Who am I?" From the _______ _____ ________ _________ on the Temple of Apollo, "Know thyself," to The Who's rock anthem, "Who Are You?" philosophers, _____________, academics, scientists, artists, theologians and politicians have all _______ the subject of identity. Their __________ are ______ varied and lack significant _________. These are smart, ________ ______, 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 ________ body? Your thoughts and ________? Your actions? These _____ waters of ________ _____ are tricky to navigate, and so it's probably fitting that to demonstrate the __________, the Greek _________ Plutarch used the story of a ship. How are you "I"? As the tale goes, Theseus, the mythical _______ King of Athens, single-handedly slayed the evil Minotaur at Crete, then returned home on a ship. To _____ 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 _________ _____ of the same material until, at some point, no original parts remained. ________ noted the Ship of Theseus was an example of the philosophical paradox revolving around the ___________ of identity. 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 Athens, Ship A, and the ship sailed by the Athenians 1000 _____ later, Ship B. Very ______, 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 ______, 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 _____ 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, __________ 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 _____, "The Ship of _______," 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 ________, 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 _______. Or maybe you could just answer, "I am a legendary hero sailing a powerful ship on an epic journey." That could work, too.

Solution

people
piece
years
founder
complexity
paradox
logic
undeniably
feelings
hypotheses
physical
murky
identical
inscribed
simply
title
tackled
psychologists
persistence
greek
widely
plutarch
single
common
theseus
abstract
aphorism
changing
honor
ships
historian
ancient
creative
consensus

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

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