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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site fortune.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!fortune!polard
From: polard@fortune.UUCP (Henry Polard)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: matter transmission and personal identity
Message-ID: <5621@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 12:29:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: fortune.5621
Posted: Fri Oct  4 12:29:57 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 06:48:58 EDT
References: <3768@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Reply-To: polard@fortune.UUCP (Henry polard)
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 35

>..a famous puzzle, known as the ship of Theseus:
>...
>Similarly, what makes you the same person as you were when you were 12
>years old?  Probably almost all of the atoms in your body have been
>replaced in that time.  Well, you REMEMBER being that 12 year old...
>So is it your memory of being that 12 year old that makes you the same
>person? 
The discussion on teleportation has assumed that we are always the
"same" through time, e.g, I am the "same" person as the 12 year old 
I remember myself to be.  But I am different (I had no beard then, and 
was innocent of the delights of U*ix), and can see myself changing 
from moment to moment as I change oxygen molecules through breathing
and change mentally through new experiences (learning).
For an investigation of personality from the point of view of change
rather than stasis, I suggest reading in Buddhist philosophy
(What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula is a start), specifically
the part of Buddhist philosphy called Abhidharma.
I think that from the Buddhist point of view (this is an abstration;
there are really many Buddhist points of view) the ship of Theseus
is different with each change, but because it we think it useful to do
so, out of convenience we label it as the "same" ship.  Similarly,
from instant to instant we are "different", but because we think it useful 
to do so, out of convenience, we think we are the "same" person
as we remember we were.
From this point of view there may be no difference between changes during 
teleporting and changes from one instant to the next, no matter how much
we are destroyed and re-created.

I, or the butterfly that may be dreaming me up,
 may or may not believe any of the above.
-- 
Henry Polard (You bring the flames - I'll bring the marshmallows.)
{ihnp4,cbosgd,amd}!fortune!polard
N.B: The words in this posting do not necessarily express the opinions
of me, my employer, or any AI project.


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