Comments on: Thought Experiment #3

By: Viperslips

Viperslips — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:00:38 +0000

So if it had the same brain and body, wouldn’t that be a clone? We know that clones diverge. So we’d expect that to apply to humans as well.

By: Ken

Ken — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:31:39 +0000

With an exact copy of the body – the 2 “selves” would feel similar but still be separate – and separate more and more with time. They may start with the same memories but the brain/body is dynamic and continually influencing and changing the consciousness..

Losing one’s toe – no, it’s not a matter of subtraction. But it would influence ones consciousness (as well as ones’ body).

By: Damian

Damian — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:32:50 +0000

Ken, how about if the super-super-duper machine was to make an exact copy of your whole body instead of just your brain then?

And if consciousness is entwined with the body does losing a toe subtract from a person’s consciousness?

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:16:25 +0000

Consciousness is so entwined with the brain/body that each body would have its own sense of self. These would develop separately as the interactions withing the brain and between the brain and body developed.

By: Dale Campbell

Dale Campbell — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:48:37 +0000

You’re getting comic relief as answers Damian!

I think the key term to define here is ‘you’. I think experiences (embodied experiences, to be more specific) are a part of ‘you’, so perhaps (maybe?) the new ‘you’ would remember experiences from the old body – unless the bodies were identical. But if with identical bodies, the two would go on to develop into two different people with two different sets of experiences/choices/etc. Fun stuff to think about!

-d-

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:30:06 +0000

Mmm – I’m in two minds about this

By: Damian

Damian — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:06:03 +0000

Arf arf.

By: AskAnAtheist.org

AskAnAtheist.org — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:19:45 +0000

If that happened to me, I’d be beside myself!

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