2008/4/22 Tom Caylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Your "external event" is part of what I was referring to as "out > there". I would argue for the consistency and the merits of the view > that our identity is tied not only to our brains but also to events > recorded outside of our brains. Someone with Alzheimers still has a > history (and also an identity) recorded externally to their brains, a > history that can be read by other persons. I know, the quantum > superposition view entails that there are multiple histories being > read by multiple persons in multiple universes. As I have said before > on this list, I think that this just multiplies the problem. If your > identity is tied only to your brain, and the first person observer > moments that it can experience based solely on internal "memory", then > you have multiple people in multiple universes treating the Alzheimers > patient as worthless (since they know that the patient cannot remember > these accomplishments), and multiple Alzheimers patients believing > that he/she is worthless, with no identity so speak of. What's wrong > with the view that our memory is augmented by the external world > around us? In fact, it has been discussed here before that perhaps > consciousness itself needs a world external to our "brains" in order > to keep living. I'm for the view that life/consciousness/everything > is about relationships rather than data.
The Alzheimer's patient is significant to other people because they remember him and maintain a relationship with him. If he has forgotten who exactly they are but still retains some sort of emotional attachment to them - "the nice woman who has come to visit me" - then that is a feeling and it is part of the content of the observer moment. But as memory and cognition deteriorate and only the vegetative functions remain, then unfortunately what makes the person a person is fading away. That's why it's so sad when a family member gets Alzheimer's. -- Stathis Papaioannou --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
