"In the TV show Severance, employees at the mysterious company Lumon agree to have their consciousness severed between their work-selves (the "innies") and their non-work selves (the "outies"). This means that when they are at work, they have no memory of their personal lives, and once they leave work for the day, they go back to being their personal selves with no memory of their work environment."
"One of the main underlying questions in the show is whether the innies and the outies share an identity relation-that is, whether they are the same individuals, or persons, outside of work as they are while at work. Through that question, the series deals with the implications of a severed personal identity and thus functions as a wonderful tool to teach about two theories of identity: animalism and John Locke's psychological account."
"Lock defines a person as a thinking being with reason and reflection, and argues that the continuation of personal identity has to do with continuing psychological connectedness, especially of our memories: For, since consciousness always accompanies thinking, and it is that which makes every one to be what he calls self, and thereby distinguishes himself from all other thinking things, in this alone consists personal identity, i.e. the sameness of a rational being: and as far as this consciousness can be exte"
Severance presents a workplace procedure that severs consciousness between work-selves (innies) and non-work selves (outies), producing mutual amnesia across contexts. The central question asks whether innies and outies remain the same persons despite disconnected memories and experiences. The narrative contrasts animalism, which ties identity to biological continuity, with a psychological account that ties personal identity to continuity of consciousness and memory. A pivotal scene shows an innie denied departure when his outie interprets a brief kiss between the innie and the outie's wife as infidelity, foregrounding memory-based criteria for identity and responsibility.
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