On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 7:43 PM Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 2, 2019 at 2:41 AM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 1:08 AM 'Brent Meeker' via Everything List < >> [email protected]> wrote:On 7/29/2019 2:14 PM, Jason >> Resch wrote: >> >>> That is not a well-defined procedure -- too many ambiguities remain. >>>> >>>> >>> >>> What is ambiguous? One physical state "your brain" is adjusted gradually >>> until it is equal to the brain of someone else. You agree this is >>> physically possible, right? >>> >>> >>> No, it's not possible if the conscious processes of the brain are >>> digital. Then there is a lower bound to "gradualness". >>> >> >> If it is digital then wouldn't it already be "discontinuous" by nature? >> Are you suggesting personal identity can or should be defined by mapping an >> identity to a particular digital program? >> >> >>> And what if the two brains have different numbers of neurons and >>> different numbers of connections...how can you map one to the other? >>> >> >> No problem. New neurons grow and die all the time in our own brains. >> >> > Rather than swapping the brains of A and B one neuron at a time, would it > not be simpler to just do a brain transplant? This is likely to be > technically easier, and it is difficult to see what the one-at-a-time > transfer would achieve that the transplant would not. > > Alternatively, one can follow the Indian legend dramatised by Thomas Mann > in "The Transposed Heads"! > > You could swap whole heads, but then you it would be easy to conclude identity moved with the heads. If instead you slowly mutate two heads to eventually become the other, then the question of identity is less clear. 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUiwSsaFweNpC2jVQffkd3BVunPaew2vhmkfjfL6Z3Di1w%40mail.gmail.com.
