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Congratulations! According to one theory of personal identity, you have survived!
You chose:
Round 1: It's the spaceship for me!
Round 2: I'll take the silicon!
Round 3: Freeze me!
However, although you have survived, you seem to have taken an unnecessary risk.
There are basically three kinds of things which could be required for the continued existence of your self. One is bodily continuity, which actually may require only parts of the body to stay in existence (e.g., the brain). Another is psychological continuity, which requires, for the continued existence of the self, the continuance of your consciousness, by which is meant your thoughts, ideas, memories, plans, beliefs and so on. And the third possibility is the continued existence of some kind of immaterial part of you, which might be called the soul. It may, of course, be the case that a combination of one or more types of these continuity is required for you to survive.
Your choices are consistent with the theory known as psychological reductionism. On this view, all that is required for the continued existence of the self is psychological continuity. Your three choices show that this is what you see as central to your sense of self, not any attachment to a particular substance, be it your body, brain or soul.
But there is a tension. In allowing your brain and body to be replaced by synthetic parts, you seemed to be accepting that psychological continuity is what matters, not bodily continuity. But if this is the case, why did you risk the space ship instead of taking the teletransporter? You ended up allowing your body to be replaced anyway, so why did you decide to risk everything on the spaceship instead of just giving up your original body there and then?
How have you done compared to other people?
19161 out of 165568 people chose the same path through the scenarios as you. To date, 99876 people have followed a path through these scenarios which is consistent with at least one of the three theories of personal identity specified above, compared to 65692 people who have not.
Congratulations! According to one theory of personal identity, you have survived!
You chose:
Round 1: It's the spaceship for me!
Round 2: Let the virus do its worst!
Round 3: Let my body die!
There are basically three kinds of things which could be required for the continued existence of your self. One is bodily continuity, which actually may require only parts of the body to stay in existence (e.g., the brain). Another is psychological continuity, which requires, for the continued existence of the self, the continuance of your consciousness, by which is meant your thoughts, ideas, memories, plans, beliefs and so on. And the third possibility is the continued existence of some kind of immaterial part of you, which might be called the soul. It may, of course, be the case that a combination of one or more types of these continuity is required for you to survive.
Your choices are consistent with the view that the continuity of the soul is essential for personal survival. Your first two choices showed a desire to keep your physical body alive. Yet your last choice showed a willingness to jettison this physical body in order to save your soul. So presumably, you only valued the continued existence of your body because you thought it housed the soul.
However, some would find your choices problematic. First, why does the soul seem to require an attachment to the body rather than to psychological continuity? After all, the body is ultimately dispensable. Second, the soul seems rather an empty self. It is a self that needs no thoughts, beliefs or memories to exist. It is rather a kind of immaterial home for thoughts, emotions, beliefs and so on. Do you really think the self is such a thing?
You chose:
Round 1: It's the spaceship for me!
Round 2: I'll take the silicon!
Round 3: Freeze me!
You chose:
Round 1: It's the spaceship for me!
Round 2: I'll take the silicon!
Round 3: Let my body die!
Rest in Peace! Happily, your soul lives on in a lovely little baby called Britney!
The operation was successful! What's more, a few years later, advances in technology enabled scientists to perform a similar operation which gave you back an organic brain and body, so now you're fully human again!
I took the transporter because i believe in the non-locality of the soul so a transport would not seperate my soul with the illusion of my body
Einstein said that the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible by the human mind. If the mind were a local phenomenon, how can it comprehend the laws residing in every point of space and moment of time in the vast universe? Certainly, the answer lies in science beyond biology, quantum mysticism, and paranormal explanations. Holistic Relativity explains. The prevailing view in modern neuroscience is that it is the brain that creates the mind. Biological consciousness is treated as an epiphenomenon of the brain under the assumption that there is nothing other than biological consciousness in the universe. Let us examine this view a little more closely. At the outset, this assumption implies that if all the brains in the universe were to stop functioning, the universe should also cease to exist. This is parallel to the well-known observer’s paradox of quantum mechanics –“Is there a moon if no one is looking at it?” Trying to explain consciousness is itself a phenomenon of the human mind. Furthermore, to say that the brain creates the mind is very much like saying that “Radio creates music” or “TV creates news”.
The biological consciousness is reflected in the well-known phrase – “I feel, therefore I am.” This “I” or the feelings are the filtered perceptions of the individual brain and its formed neural circuits based on evolutionary experiences....
The Templeton prize-wining cosmologist George Ellis states:
“The standard mistake that fundamentalists make is to posit a partial cause as the whole cause. Yes, the neurons are there. That’s a partial cause of what’s going on. What these neuroscientists are missing, though, is the top-down action in the brain, which is the part that gives life its actual meaning. And, if you choose to look from the bottom up, you will never see that meaning…..Now, the physicists tend to miss both the same-level and the top-down view. And, it’s the same with these neuroscientists.”
the two most fundamental aspects of the spontaneous decay of atoms are the spontaneity or the free will without any external cause and the decaying process wherein the fixed stationary mass transforms into the radiative kinetic energy in the form of alpha particles moving close to the speed of light. If thoughts in the human mind can be compared to the quantum particles that can decay at the free will of the person, then such a property of the contemplative mind provides a common or uniform basis for the human mind and the micro-mind suggested by Dyson. Further, since the empty space in the universe is shown by quantum mechanics to be filled with particles that are born and dissolved instantly at their free will, the argument of similarity between the human mind and the micro-mind can be extended to the macro- or the universal mind since they all are dominantly made of particles that can decay or transform to the radiative kinetic energy at free will.
Originally posted by Deaf Alien
reply to post by Harman
I took the transporter because i believe in the non-locality of the soul so a transport would not seperate my soul with the illusion of my body
I really agree with you.
Here's another difficult question for you:
Suppose there is an error in the transporter computer system (there is a star trek episode about this) and your body wasn't destroyed on earth, but there is a clone of you on Mars. You will still be you on Earth, but who is this person on Mars? (Star Trek - The Enemy Within)
1-Yeah... always wanted to take a ride through space, and teleporting wouldn't have cut it.. Oh and of course to keep myself as myself
Congratulations! According to one theory of personal identity, you have survived!
You chose:
Round 1: It's the spaceship for me!
Round 2: I'll take the silicon!
Round 3: Let my body die!
However, although you have survived, at least one of your choices seems a little problematic.
There are basically three kinds of things which could be required for the continued existence of your self. One is bodily continuity, which actually may require only parts of the body to stay in existence (e.g., the brain). Another is psychological continuity, which requires, for the continued existence of the self, the continuance of your consciousness, by which is meant your thoughts, ideas, memories, plans, beliefs and so on. And the third possibility is the continued existence of some kind of immaterial part of you, which might be called the soul. It may, of course, be the case that a combination of one or more types of these continuity is required for you to survive.
Your choices are just about consistent with the view that the continuity of the soul is essential for personal survival. Your first choice showed a desire to keep your physical body alive. Your second choice, in contrast, showed a willingness to have your body replaced by synthetic parts to preserve your psychological continuity. Your last choice showed a willingness to jettison your physical body and end psychological continuity in order to save your soul.
There is something troubling about these choices. First, the tracking of the soul seems a bit erratic. In the first choice, it followed the physical body, but on the second it followed psychological continuity. So it seems there is no reliable way of deciding where the soul goes - does it follow the body or psychological continuity? Secondly, the soul seems rather an empty self. It is a self that needs no thoughts, beliefs or memories to exist. It is rather a kind of immaterial home for thoughts, emotions, beliefs and so on. Do you really think the self is such a thing?
1). I chose the spaceship over teleporting because the teleporting made me feel like I would have only been a clone of myself with my memory replaced as simulation and not the real Ashley.
2). I chose the silicone because my mind/memories is far more important to me to preserve than my physical form. For instance, I'd rather suffer from full body paralyzing and have my brain fully functional than to have a healthy body but suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's. I'm that type that considers my thought process much more important than physical.
3). I chose death over freezing because 'losing the soul' is losing who you are. Death is not a fear of mine but losing who I am is.
The body is just a physical case. The actual person is inside. So to me, the person is their thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, personality, soul etc.
As much as being paralyzed from the neck down would suck, I'd take that any day over having amnesia or dementia.
To me, that's losing who you are (temporarily). Not death. Fortunately I've only known a few people who lost their minds in their latter years. They weren't the same 'people' although their bodies were fully functional. Then my grandmother died of ALS last January. She could hardly move but her brain was functional so we still had that emotional exchange.
I hope I'm making sense. lol
The 'body' is just a shell. The soul/personality I believe is eternal and who the person is. Therefore, my body can go through whatever it must- including death and decay, but the decay of my mind/personality/emotions/soul is what would be my main concern.
Originally posted by Deaf Alien
That's just it. What do you mean when you say that you want to keep yourself as yourself?
Basically, it all comes down to this: who are you?