John and Ken begin by creating a sense of puzzlement about what it means to be a person and have a self. Ken says that "person" doesn't mean "human". John agrees, giving the example of Donald Duck. They discuss the idea that being a person involves having self-knowledge.

The guest, Douglas Hofstadter, talks about the puzzling fact that we think of the brain operating according to the fundamental laws of physics, but such explanations seem incompatible with our every day explanations of the world in terms of personalities, senses of humor, etc.

John asks how real is the self. Hofstadter says that it is a very very useful fiction, a necessary short cut. He points out that even talk of hurricanes does not take place in terms of the most basic laws of physics, but still we think of hurricanes as being real. He says that selves are "abstract patterns" that exist at the same level of reality as hurricanes.

• Roving Philosophical Report波莉·斯崔克采访了加州大学旧金山分校的精神病学家索菲娅·维诺格拉多夫，她说我们的自我意识是通过多年的记忆和各种联系建立起来的。尽管我们的分子结构发生了变化，但我们感觉同一个自我一直存在。维诺格拉多夫博士还讨论了裂脑实验，在这种实验中，两个人似乎被安置在一个身体里。
  
• Conundrum: John in Oakland, CA asks what, of any, are the obligations of individuals who are themselves dying.