On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 3:39 PM, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2/18/2013 10:49 PM, Jason Resch wrote: > > 6. Swapping places with someone: In 5 seconds, your mind and consciousness > will swap with that of some rich and famous person. Let's say Bill Gates. > I hope you are ready. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. The swap is complete. Bill Gates > is now in your body, with access to your memories and living as you were > just before you got to reading this sentence, while you are living as > a billionaire and enjoying Bills bank account. Of course, while you are > in his body you only have access to his memories. Not only does his wife > not notice the switch, but you don't even notice it. You only have access > to Bill's memories now so you do not realize anything is awry. Don't > worry, everything will be set back how it was, in 3. 2. 1. Welcome back. > How was it? Of course, you don't remember. Fortunately, Bill was nice > enough to read the last few sentences for you and now they have been placed > into your memory. This shows it is meaningless to say "I wish I could live > as X", or "experience a day in Y's shoes". For all you know, you already > are, have, and will. > > > This, if true, only shows that "you" and "Bill Gates" don't exist apart > from your bodies and memories, so that it is nonsense to talk of exchanging > bodies and memories. > We agree it is nonsense. > For it to make sense there would have to be a "you" soul and a "Bill > Gates" soul that switched. > Okay, if no soul involved, then by what means can we talk of you at T1 and you at T2, when the two are different in terms of memories and material? There is a problem with any theories of personal identity two individuals at two different times. Inevitably it comes down to some arbitrary measure of similarity. There are two alternatives, no-self theories of personal identity, in which you are nothing but a single observer moment, and universalism, which identifies you with every conscious entity. Universalism is a simpler theory that explains more, in that it can answer why you are experiencing the moment you are in now vs. none at all or some other observer moment. No-self theories, taken seriously, seem incompatible with the scientific method, as if you are trapped in a single OM forever, you cannot perform any experiments, or test predictions. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
