what is most `important' membership to you?
some important ones can be membership of the
species (determines some rights in law)
state   (determines some rights in law)
company (who pays you?...)
team    (who's got your back?...)
family  (who's really got your back... maybe)
...see how this is going? tighter and tighter groupings.
keeping going, ever tighter, we end with
membership of the self.

who do you feel more affinity with?
your friend
your sister
your own self from yesterday or tomorrow?
your own self at age 1 or 91?

notion of the self?
where does it come from?
the egg that became your body was created in your _mother_'s embryo!
the ash from your cremation is apparently not great plant food
 (unlike plant ash), but ok in small doses.

is it interesting to consider the notion of the self?
is it safe?


topology:
every possible human characterisitic (height, weight, 
 age, hair length, charm, piano grade, ...)
represent each characteristic as a line, e.g. from short to tall.
then every point in a multidimensional space is a particular specification
 of all characteristics - and some of these points have individuals 
 who have exactly that height, weight and so on.