What is personal identity? Philosophy’s classic answers—physical continuity, psychological continuity, narrative identity—each capture something true but leave something out. This chapter introduces the frameworks that will guide the book: Consciousness as Mechanics (CaM), the Gradient Reality Model (GRM), and the Neural Pathway Fallacy (NPF/CNI). Identity, on this view, is not a fixed essence but a revisable self‑model, maintained by the mind and open to revision. The work o