| Re: Why are you you and me me? This discussion reminds me of a old story...I think it was related to a greek mythology fable or something...
A captain of a ship is on a exploration. One of the things that he must have is replacement parts, such as lumber, iron, and tools, so that if his ship is damaged, he will be able to fix it. So in this ship is enough material to build a second ship.
Throughout his explorations, his ship gets damaged. Peices falls off and things break. Little by little the ship loses it's initial form. The peieces are replaced with the ships provisions, and the damaged parts are thrown overboard.
Unbeknownst to the captain, Posiedon (or whatever diety you wish to use) was actually following this ship and picking up all the broken peices. When the captain finally uses all of his repair material, Poseidon creates a ship from the broken peices that were left behind.
The question is this: Which ship is the one that the Captain first sailed off of?
Using this in the discussion of consciousness...
Is it really possible to create a double even when we use the same material, when it is broken apart?
Our brain cells die and are replaced, not as regularly as some other cells, but they do get replaced. If we pick up those brain cells and put them together again, and magically bring them back to life, would we end up with 2 of the same consciousness?
__________________ Democrats are thieves
Republicans are thieves too,
Where's my liberty?
- by Ethereal |